The Saudi Arabian Industrial Property Authority (SIPA) was formed in 2001 through government legislation with aclear mandate to:

1) Develop Industrial Estates in the whole of the kingdom.

2) Develop Technology Zones in the whole of the kingdom.

3) Regulate and supervise the operations of the Industrial Estates and the Technology Zones.

SIPA, commonly known as MODON, undertakes all developments of the estates and zones, regulating and supervising their operations, including privately established ones. SIPA encourages and incorporates the participation of the private sector in such developments with the main aim of creating employment opportunities for the Saudi and furthering of economic and technological developments.

Saudi Arabia now has 14 strong Industrial Cities in all of the kingdom's regions covering a total area of about 237 million sq. meters. These are to be found in the capital Riyadh, Jeddah, Madina, Qassim, Al-Ahsa, Makkah, Assir and other places. SIPA pumped in $ 53 billion in the development and operationalization of these industrial parks. The parks have created 300,000 direct employment opportunities. Presently, SIPA is in the process of developing additional industrial cities in Ar'ar, Al-Kharj, Al-Gurayaat, Al-Baha and a second one in the economic capital, Jeddah.

SIPA has undertaken the development of Technology Zones in various parts of the kingdom. These Zones, otherwise known as Innovation centers, incorporate the involvement of the kingdom's researchers, research centers, universities and international research organizations. These centers are designed to encourage the formation and growth of knowledge-based industries. These zones encourage the growth of companies and thus stimulate the economy. They create employment opportunities, attract foreign investments and improve competitiveness, resulting in high-tech industries producing high quality products.

SIPA has transformed the way public utilities are run in the cities where it has established industrial estates. The concept of Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) has seen service delivery improve in the water, energy and other sectors. By partnering with the Saudi Telecom Company (STC), these estates ans zones enjoy high quality telecommunication services.

The technology zones generally bring a lot of benefits with them. Apart from professional and administrative support that locals would enjoy in carrying out their business activities, they are able to network and coordinate with research institutions. In addition, the locals have access to training and financial support and they obtain venture capital after such training as they are informed and educated on what they want to do.

SIPA has embarked on the development of a very ambitious project in the city of Sudair. The Sudair Industrial City will be the biggest industrial estate SIPA will have undertaken. SIPA aims to transform the city through the development of quality housing, improve on the education facilities, business facilities, transportation, create research centers and recreational facilities. It also aims to further develop the city's services including water and electricity. To achieve it's objective, SIPA incoporated the services of international consultancy firms that designed how the city will be on completion.

The city, located between Riyadh and Al-Qassim, is to occupy an area of over 250 million sq. meters and would have all that a modern city should have.