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[nomad soul]

Work begins on women’s industrial city
By Sultan Al-Sughair, Arab News | 12 August 2014
Source: http://www.arabnews.com/news/saudi-arabia/614976

AL-AHSA--Work on the first women’s industrial city in the Kingdom is well under way. The city, poised to cost SR111 million according to data made available to Arab News, will span an area of 500,000 square meters and is located east of Al-Ahsa International Airport.

Saleh Al-Rasheed, director-general of the Saudi Industrial Property Authority (Modon) at the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, revealed that construction work is ongoing on other projects within Al-Ahsa’s industrial endeavors. “A second industrial city will be completed by the third quarter of 2015,” said Al-Rasheed.

The women’s industrial city will be divided into three sections: a commercial section, which will span 140,000 square meters, an industrial section to be built on an area of 170,000 square meters, and a services area, which will span 120,000 square meters. The new city aims to attract and accommodate the largest number of industrial projects pioneered by women, making it the first industrial city to accommodate women’s businesses exclusively. The second industrial city in Al-Ahsa, meanwhile, will span an area of 300 million square meters and will become the first mega city belonging to Modon on Gulf Bay.

The city will be able to accommodate all types of heavy industries and provide hundreds of thousands of job opportunities. The city will mostly cater to manufacturing industries. Modon is working with Al-Ahsa’s chamber and municipality, who have contributed to formulating the city’s futuristic vision and ambitious plans in designing and establishing distinctive and major developmental projects and investments via the instructional structural scheme of Al-Ahsa, Al-Rasheed said.

The design of the industrial city takes into account the privacy of Saudi women and will provide thousands of jobs for Saudi women and trained citizens. The location of the city (Modon Oasis) was carefully chosen to be close to the cities of Hofuf and Mubarraz to ensure easy access for female employees and workers to the city, Al-Rasheed said.

(End of article)

[Janiny]

An entire city without men!? So what happens if they need to kill a spider?

[veiledsentiments]

I'm still trying to figure out what these women will be doing? Making widgets? Sewing abayas? Building cars and trucks?

VS

[nomad soul]

Sort of, VS. The first women-only industrial city is in Yanbu, which is to soon start operations. According to Arab News, "The plant would have integrated services including public transport, nurseries, and technical institutes for training. It would also have a medical center, a sports center, a recreational area, green landscaping, a government services building, commercial center, hotel and gas station. The activities proposed include producing garments, gold and jewelry, dates, medical supplies, packaging services, toys and traditional handicrafts." Source: http://www.arabnews.com/news/536216

[cmp45]

Lots of job opportunities, if Saudi women are willing to get their 'hands dirty'.

[nomad soul]

[plumpy nut]

[MuscatGary]

[veiledsentiments]

It's definitely most from my experience teaching both sexes, but we have to keep one detail in mind. With the women, in this part of the world, we get the brightest and most hard-working because the non-academic girls drop out and marry very young. So, we never encounter them... whereas the males are often forced to keep attending school/university by their parents against their desire and ability.

VS