SAUDI ARABIA: FORMER DESERT WASTELAND AROUND RIYADH BEING TRANSFORMED INTO BOOM TOWN BY OIL PROFITS.

Record ID: 1062010

  • Title: SAUDI ARABIA: FORMER DESERT WASTELAND AROUND RIYADH BEING TRANSFORMED INTO BOOM TOWN BY OIL PROFITS.
  • Date: 12th March 1976
  • Summary: 1. GV Oil installations in Saudi Arabia. (4 shots) 0.22 2. CU Sheikh Yamani (MUTE FOR 6 SECS) then sound starts. 0.50 3. GV PAN Traffic in street to former palace. (2 shots) 1.00 4. SV Apartment block and flats under construction. (2 shots) 1.05 5. SV Workers on site. (7 shots) 1.34 6. CU Workers assembling steel frame for reinforced concrete. 1.49 SHEIKH YAMANI: "Well Saudi Arabia has a unique case. I think no matter how much we can spend, even if we succeed in spending within the planned limit, I don't think we will be able to spend what we get. We will always accumulate a surplus in Saudi Arabia." These are oil installations in Saudi Arabia. Because of its oil, this country is so rich that it can spend an average of 30-billion dollars a year to achieve its ambition of becoming a modern, self-sufficient industrial society. In a world plagued by inflation, Saudi Arabia has difficulty in spending all the money it makes from oil. This certainly is the view of Sheikh Ahmed Yamani, the country's oil minister. SPEECH ON FILM STARTS: "Well Saudi Arabia has...... SPEECH ON FILM ENDS: ....a surplus in Saudi Arabia." This is the Saudi Arabian capital, Riyadh, a former desert oasis, now a boom town. Its palace is about the only thing that will be spared in the further development of the town. But elsewhere, hundreds of mudbrick houses have been levelled over the past year to make way for luxury apartment houses and high-rise office buildings. With the ever increasing construction work going on in Riyadh, unskilled workers can make up to 25 dollars a day. Land costs more in Riyadh than in central New York or London. Furnished apartments can cost 10-thousand dollars a year to rent, payable in advance. What Saudi Arabia is short of is labour. It is anticipated that half a million foreign workers will be needed by 1980 if the country's development plans are to succeed. Initials VS 20.35 VS 21.45 Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 26th March 1976 13:00
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  • Location: RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA
  • Country: Saudi Arabia
  • Reuters ID: LVAD2X1QRFLMQ20DVYRO2OO1NNL0
  • Story Text:
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS - SOURCE TO BE VERIFIED
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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