RIYADH: Investors eyeing opportunities in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province stand to benefit from 362 initiatives recently launched by the local urban administration, fostering private sector involvement in development. The municipality has recently unveiled a range of diverse investment opportunities, both permanent and temporary, across cities and governorates in the region. This initiative reflects the mayoralty’s efforts to engage the private sector in development, the Saudi Press Agency reported. Furthermore, the municipality has cataloged over 20,000 investment assets covering an area exceeding 116 million sq. m., serving as a database for significant investment growth in the region. Fahd bin Muhammad Al-Jubeir, mayor of the Eastern Province, elaborated that the investment opportunities span various sectors. These include the development of waterfronts, plots, and infrastructure, as well as transportation, markets, and advertising billboards. Additionally, there are opportunities for recreational and tourist centers. These also cover sports activities, factories, and exhibitions, along with warehouses, workers’ housing, and various tourist and commercial investment sites. Moreover, he emphasized that investment prospects within various cities and governorates in the region extend to encompass temporary activities, such as festivals, events, and food trucks. The municipality urged investors and aspiring entrepreneurs to capitalize on the benefits and incentives offered by investment regulations. These include contractual extensions of up to 50 years and exemption periods of up to 10 percent of the contract duration, aimed at supporting investors. In January 2024, the municipality announced 238 diverse investment opportunities, encompassing both permanent and temporary ventures across the region. Several of these prospects require technical proposals and qualifying expertise to ensure the quality and success of the initiatives, along with investors’ capability to achieve them, the SPA report added. Al-Jubeir explained that those opportunities aimed to involve the private sector, investors, and entrepreneurs in municipal investments, aligning with Vision 2030. Pursuing this objective has facilitated the initiation of qualitative and pioneering acquisitions, attracting distinguished interest from within and outside the Kingdom. These efforts aim to achieve Vision 2030’s pillars for a thriving economy and an ambitious society, according to the mayor. He emphasized that these opportunities followed the launch of a set of investment and developmental projects totaling SR14 billion ($3.73 billion), announced by the Emir of the region in the presence of the Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs and Housing.