A WOMEN-only industrial city is to be constructed in Saudi Arabia to provide a working environment that is in line with the kingdom's strict customs.

The city, to be built in the Eastern Province city of Hofuf, is to be the first of several planned for the Gulf kingdom.

The aim is to allow more women to work and achieve greater financial independence, but to maintain gender segregation, according to reports.

Proposals have also been submitted for four similar industrial centres exclusively for women entrepreneurs, employers and employees in Riyadh, the kingdom's capital.

Segregation of the sexes is applied in Saudi Arabia, where Wahhabi Islam and tribal customs combine to create an ultra-conservative society that still does not allow women to drive. Saudi women are said to make up about 15 per cent of the workforce, with most in female-only workplaces.

Although the number of mixed-gender workplaces has increased, they are still rare.

The proposals follow government instructions to create more job openings for women to enable them to have a more important role in the country's development.

The Saudi Industrial Property Authority, which is developing the women-only industrial city at Hofuf, said it hoped the city would open next year. Prince Mansour bin Miteb bin Abdulaziz, Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs, had approved the plan, a spokesman said.

''I'm sure that women can demonstrate their efficiency in many aspects and clarify the industries that best suit their interests, nature and ability,'' said the authority's deputy director-general, Saleh al-Rasheed.

The Hofuf development is expected to create about 5000 jobs in textiles, pharmaceuticals and food-processing industries, with women-run firms and production lines. The authority said the Hofuf industrial site was a suitable location given its ''proximity to residential neighbourhoods to facilitate the movement of women to and from the workplace''.

The project has been proposed by a group of Saudi businesswomen, said al-Eqtisadiah, the business daily, quoting the businesswoman Hussa al-Aun. She told the paper: ''The new industrial city should have a specialised training centre to help women develop their talents and train them to work at factories. This is essential to cut unemployment among our female graduates.''

GUARDIAN