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Company charts ambitious growth plans for Saudi Arabia and the GCC
Nabatat Contracting Company (NCC), the largest contractor in Saudi Arabias landscaping and agriculture sector, has long-term plans to invest around 350 million Saudi riyals ($93 million) in the Kingdom’s manufacturing sector while simultaneously opening companies in the rest of the GCC [Gulf Cooperation Council] region as part of its business expansion roadmap, the company Chairman said.
“In future, we are expanding into the manufacturing sector in other big cities, and we are looking at investments of around SAR 350 million ($93 million). Earlier, it was very hard to convince foreign companies to set up manufacturing units in Saudi. But now they understand that if they dont, others will,” said Waleed Hamed Al Khaldi in an exclusive interview.
NCC boasts of a SAR4.2 billion ($1.1 billion) project portfolio in the Kingdom with a client list that includes Red Sea Global (RSG), NEOM, Qiddiya and Royal Commission for Riyadh City (RCRC).
Khaldi said: “Currently, the Saudi government wants most products to be manufactured in the Kingdom as part of its Vision 2030 programme and is funding many startups exploring local manufacturing opportunities. Hence, we have also changed our perspective and we started to develop our local manufacturing capabilities with the strong support of SABIC’s Nusanet, which invests in feasible local companies to manufacture sustainable products previously imported into the Kingdom.”
NCC is getting into local manufacturing of greenhouse technology with Chinese Agro for the King Salman Park, besides collaborating with Korean companies who are providing the material for making plastic pots.
“We are also collaborating with Chinese companies to recycle food waste into compost for our nurseries. We approached SABIC and they are interested in investing in our SAR75 million ($20 million) project,” said Khaldi.
“We also have good ties with SIDF and local banks; we mainly work with Riyadh Bank and Al Rajhi Bank. Hence, we can collaborate with any new investor or foreign technology provider ready to set up in Saudi with products that show good returns on investment,” he said, adding that NCC can also help investors with project financing.
Future growth
“As part of our future growth, NCC has invested SAR50 million ($13 million) and set up a company in Bahrain. We are now looking at Dubai and over the next five years, we want to widen our reach into Qatar, Oman and Kuwait to explore market opportunities,” he added.
Thirty years ago, the company was predominantly based in Dammam. “We gradually started expanding our operations and we are now located in 16 cities in the Kingdom. In a span of five years, NCC went from SAR 300 million ($80 million) in revenue to SAR 1.2 billion ($320 million),” said Khaldi.
Previously, NCC had 300,000-square metre (sqm) nursery in Jubail while today it has around 14 nurseries spread over more than 1 million sqm in Riyadh, Dammam and in the NEOM giga-project.
“We have also bagged a SAR 1.2 billion ($320 million) project to plant around 2.5 million trees as part of the Green Riyadh project, where we have a huge nursery with greenhouses spread over 2 million sqm of land and we are procuring the trees from India and Thailand,” he said.
Green Riyadh project is one of the most ambitious urban afforestation projects in the world and part of Riyadh’s four megaprojects launched by Crown Prince King Salman Bin Abdulaziz in 2019. The project will fulfill a key goal of the Saudi Vision 2030 to promote Riyadh’s position among the world’s top 100 most livable cities. |
