The Issue

Over the next 10 years, Saudi Arabia expects to invest nearly $200,000 million in major industrial projects to stimulate economic growth. These investments in new plant facilities promise continued prosperity for the nation, while ensuring the Kingdom’s preeminence in the oil & gas and petrochemical industries.

Given their unprecedented size and scope, these “megaprojects” hold significant potential as a source of jobs and growth for the local economy. This potential is unlikely to be realized, however, unless the Kingdom can develop much stronger capabilities in large scale engineering, manufacturing, and construction for process industries, to complement existing expertise in project management.

The Event

The Megaprojects & Learning Dialogue was designed bring a sharper focus to this issue. The event highlighted opportunities for local participation, foreign investment, and job creation to support the Kingdom’s major engineered construction projects. It also presented case studies from domestic companies and multinational partners who have taken tangible steps to develop local capability in engineering design, project support, construction, and manufacturing.

The Participants

The dialogue brought together major corporate and government sponsors of megaprojects, major international engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contractors, local business leaders, financiers, and government representatives to review opportunities and challenges for increasing Saudi participation in megaproject planning and execution. The dialogue provided a unique opportunity for participants to network, share experiences, and explore new possibilities.

The Conference Objectives

• Share plans and related investment opportunities for upcoming megaprojects
• Share best practices and lessons learned from companies that have invested in building service infrastructure to support megaproject execution
• Explore opportunities for building new alliances and partnerships to expand in-Kingdom manufacturing & project-related fabrication, supply, and construction services
• Connect local & international business leaders, government officials, and investors who are interested in developing local capability to support megaprojects
• Review training & development activities and explore potential alliances for developing a skilled Saudi construction workforce

The Design

The event included a variety of activities to fully engage the participants, including formal presentations, short case studies, informal small group discussions, and large group dialogues. Activities extended over 1 ½ days, starting with opening ceremonies, keynote presentations, and dinner on Tuesday evening, May 2nd. The dialogue continued for a full day on May 3rd, with presentations and discussions in three separate tracks: investing in manpower development, creating in-Kingdom manufacturing & services capacity, and building a technical infrastructure to support large project planning & execution.