KAEC Industrial Valley Witnesses First Factory for Assembling Firefighting Apparatus in Arab World

The Economic Cities Authority (ECA) participated in the opening of the new Rosenbauer Saudi Arabia factory, the first manufacturing facility specializing in assembling firefighting apparatus in the Arab world. The factory was built in the Industrial Valley in King Abdullah Economic City.

ECA was represented by Eng. Imad Hashem, Vice Secretary General for ECA affairs, as well as a number of ECA senior employees. Also attending the opening ceremony were officials from the General Directorate of Civil Defense, the General Authority of Civil Aviation and “Emaar, the Economic City”, the master developer of King Abdullah Economic City, as well as a number of other entities.

The Rosenbauer Saudi Arabia management team welcomed guests upon reaching the factory, where they provided an introductory presentation of the company and its factory, which is located in the first phase of the Industrial Valley on an area of 20,000 m2. The guests then took a tour of the factory where they learned about its various advanced facilities.

Eng. Hashem expressed his happiness at the opening of the facility in the Industrial Valley, expecting the new factory to contribute to meeting the demands of the local market and supporting the Kingdom’s exports to neighboring markets.

He stated, “We at the Economic Cities Authority were keen on overcoming all the difficulties and providing the needed support to continue building this factory, which will contribute to diversifying Saudi’s exports to the world in the field of rescue and firefighting vehicles. It will also provide job opportunities by enabling local companies to distribute spare parts and vehicle structures and provide quality job opportunities for Saudi youth.”

Eng. Hashem added, “King Abdullah Economic City has certainly become an attractive front for foreign investment with its extensive infrastructure and excellent investment environment.”

From his side, Eng. Andreas Zeller, Chairman and CEO of Rosenbauer Saudi Arabia, stated, “We managed to build this factory in record time – in around half the time needed to build it in Europe. This was done thanks to the massive support we received from the Economic Cities Authority since the beginning of the project. It is an honor to be part of this outstanding economic city development that will change the region’s infrastructure, and we would like to express our gratitude to ECA and its General Secretary, Mr. Mohanud Helal, for their assistance throughout all of the project’s phases, as well as joining us in celebrating the opening of the factory.”

Zeller added that Rosenbauer is the world’s largest sales and service organization in the fire truck industry, as it exports its products to 133 countries worldwide, with annual revenue of 784.4 million euros and a team of 2,941 employees.

He added that the company is also specialized in producing foam systems, fire hoses and polypropylene tanks. Zeller revealed that the new factory will offer a large variety of vehicles, due to the presence of another factory in Jeddah for the final stages of production, before assembly in the new factory, as per the highest international and globally approved standards of the company’s factory in Austria.