Dubai, June 22 (PTI) Saudi Arabia plans to raise the capacity of its second largest port in Dammam and may spend more than USD 613 million on port expansions to rival other regional ports, Transport Minister Jabara Al-Seraisry said.
The country currently has nine ports with around 200 docks.
"All ports are subject now to expansion. We are investing now USD 613 million (2.3 billion Saudi riyals) for projects in all the ports and we always continue increasing, particularly the industrial ports in Yanbu and Jubail. The next budget will be coming in five or six months and we will see more projects," the minister was quoted by Arab News as saying.
Saudi Arabia is currently undertaking infrastructure projects worth billions of dollars, including USD 400 billion to be spent in the five years to 2013 and over USD 130 billion to be spent on social and infrastructure projects.