RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s building materials sector is experiencing a boom as investment volume in 2023 amounted to SR336 billion ($89.5 billion), up 0.9 percent from 2022. 

The Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resource’s National Industrial and Mining Information Center report revealed that the entity has issued 183 licenses for the sector during the year, up from the 132 recorded in 2022, the Saudi Press Agency reported. 

This falls in line with the Kingdom’s eagerness to diversify its economy away from oil and focus on sectors like tourism, entertainment, technology and renewable energy. Therefore, it becomes essential that the infrastructure to support these industries is developed. 

The report further disclosed that the number of factories in the sector climbed 5.6 percent to reach 2,065 during 2023.

The building material facilities established within the industrial cities reached 483 in 2023, compared to 450 in 2022. 

However, the number of building material facilities established outside the industrial city reached 1,582 factories in 2023, recording a growth rate of 5 percent when compared to 2022.   

The data also stated that the number of employees in the building material sector reached 144,745 by the end of November 2023, compared to 134,075 workers in 2022. 

Moreover, the number of Saudi workers in the sector reached 40,854 by the end of November 2023, indicating a 17 percent jump compared to 2022 figures. 

The report also revealed that the total number of net loans authorized for construction technology projects from 2016 to 2023 amounted to 25 loans to finance 24 projects. 

According to the Saudi Industrial Development Fund, the net approved loans amount to SR1.119 billion. 

A senior executive revealed in November that Saudi Arabia’s construction sector has projects worth SR8 trillion in the pipeline for the next eight years.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh at the time, Jerry Todd, head of the National Development Division at the Public Investment Fund, told Arab News that the Kingdom’s well-established construction and building material sector is set to grow “very rapidly.”   

He added at the time: “We are currently looking at SR3 trillion of spending on building things at the PIF level and about SR8 trillion at the country level over the next eight years.”