The building materials sector serves as both a barometer of the wider health of the construction industry and as a critical factor in the bottom line of local contractors. As with the industry in general, sub-sectors such as cement have entered a period of uncertainty. While the government’s extensive development programme has buoyed cement...
As the largest member of the GCC and blessed with considerable hydrocarbons reserves, it is not hard to see why Saudi Arabia is often touted as the next big construction market in the region. Despite operating challenges and associated risks, the government’s decision to push forward with an ambitious development agenda has alerted numerous...
While competitive bid prices are putting pressure on margins, contractors in Saudi Arabia are now feeling the effects of new labour regulations on operations and costs. Since the government concluded an amnesty for illegal expatriate workers and began clamping down on illegal labour in November 2013, contractors have been having a more...
What initiatives are helping ensure that high school graduates have the skills to enter local universities and thus minimise the need for a preparatory year?
A central pillar of Saudi Arabia’s drive to become a knowledge-based economy over the last 10 years has been the King Abdullah Scholarship Programme (KASP). In the budget for 2015, the Ministry of Finance announced that SR22.5bn ($6bn) had been allocated for the year to fund 207,000 Saudi citizens living abroad, including the scholars and...
How would you characterise the relationship between the public and private universities, and to what extent can they complement each other?
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