We will approve the study of re-pricing the use of govt land: PAI

Government meetings continued with the aim at reformulating contracts for the exploitation of all state lands in order to raise their prices in a way that achieves the public interest.

The Public Authority for Industry informed Minister of Trade and Industry Mazen Al-Nahedh that the authority is in the process of approving the first phase of the advisory study to re-estimate the allowances for using government land and service fees provided by the authority.

The authority stated that the study included the following stages:

— The first stage includes a study of re-estimating the consideration for usufruct of land and service fees included in Cabinet Resolution 1121, amended by Resolution 1231 of 2015, and estimating other new service fees not included in the aforementioned decision, and potential alternatives to maximize the return achieved from qualified sites by the private sector. After returning it to the Authority, the feasibility of re-offering the usufruct of the withdrawn coupons that are not allocated to the public auction and the evaluation methods.

–The second stage is re-estimating the fees for using sea water for cooling industrial facilities in light of Law No. 20 of 2016 regarding determining the tariff for the electricity and water units.

— The third stage includes methodologies and alternatives for pricing model industrial real estate plots, researching and proposing new sources of revenue for the authority, and researching and proposing mechanisms to ensure the sustainability of the growth of the authority’s revenues.

The authority noted that Ministerial Resolution No. HP/7/2019 includes the formation of a committee to draft a proposal for project contracts with the private sector that regulates the technical, administrative and legal relationship with the management of the Public Authority for Industry, and the committee prepared and drafted templates for new contracts concluded by PAI with private sector projects.