CSC & “Tatweer” Discuss Investment in Educational Buildings

The Council of Saudi Chambers (CSC) hosted a meeting at its premises in Riyadh with Tatweer Buildings Company to discuss investment opportunities in educational buildings, in line with the Saudi Vision 2030 and National Transformation Program 2020 endeavors, and particularly through the Public-Private Partnership Program (PPP) to construct educational buildings across the various regions of Saudi Arabia.

Investors from real estate development, private education, and financial sectors attended the meeting, which provided insight on the PPP Program and ways to join it, and allowed investors to submit requests pertaining to opportunities in the educational buildings sector. Phase one of the PPP Program will include constructing 60 school buildings for both genders across the Kingdom, including kindergarten, primary, intermediate, and secondary levels.

CSC Board Member Eng. Mohammed Al Khushail commended the Saudi government’s commitment to the education sector and human development as per the Saudi Vision 2030, noting that 22% of the state budget for the year 2018 was allocated to education. He pointed to the recurring issues in the sector, particularly, the fact that there are around 5000 rented school buildings, which make around 28% of the total schools in Saudi Arabia, making it a challenge to elevate the educational process.

Al Khushail described the meeting as part of the 2030 Opportunities Program adopted by CSC, which aims to offer a platform for communication between the public and private sectors to identify investment opportunities for local and international investors.

For his part, Tatweer CEO Eng. Fahad Al Hammad described the project to build 60 school buildings as one of the biggest in the Public-Private Partnership, both in scope and quantity, explaining that schools will have the capacity to hold around 50.000 students, with investments estimated around SAR 1 billion, from a total of SAR 19 billion expected to be injected into various projects through the PPP Program within the next five years.

Al Hammad noted that this cooperation with the private sector is one of the PPP Program’s first projects to foster the educational environment in the Kingdom. He revealed that efforts are currently underway to design advanced models for privatization and new projects with the private sector to improve the performance and services in various sectors targeted by the PPP Program, leading to more competitiveness among the economic sectors in Saudi Arabia.

The meeting included presentations on investment opportunities in educational buildings, how to be part of this process, and the technical, financial, and legal aspects of constructing 60 school buildings across the Kingdom.