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Giga-projects

Saudi Arabia giga-projects news covering Neom, AlUla, Roshn, Amaala, Red Sea Global, Diriyah, Qiddiya, Expo 2030 and more.

Diriyah, a Unesco World Heritage site, is expected to receive funding of SAR12 billion from PIF next year, says CEO Jerry Inzerillo

Global investors seek stake in Diriyah projects says CEO

The Diriyah Gate Development Authority is holding discussions with foreign investors interested in buying equity stakes in hotels and other real estate developments in the $63 billion Diriyah giga-project. The Public Investment Fund (PIF)-backed developer has secured deals worth $1 billion with an Italian developer and a French company, CEO Jerry Inzerillo told Reuters. The names and specifics of the […]

Traffic in central Riyadh. The capital's roads are being improved in time for the 2030 World Expo

Riyadh signs off billions to improve road safety

Riyadh municipality has signed five contracts worth SAR6 billion ($1.6 billion) to improve roads in the Saudi capital, where traffic accidents are above the global average.  The contracts entail rehabilitating and asphalting 83 million square metres of road network over five years, in time for Riyadh’s hosting of the 2030 World Expo, which will bring […]

Saudi Arabia tourism projects Dragon Ball theme park

Arab Disneyland and Da Vinci: Saudi Arabia’s two great hopes

Saudi Arabia is spending billions on tourism projects at the heart of its grand plan to transform a once isolated kingdom into a global tourist destination. But a nagging question is haunting policymakers: will the world pay attention?   Tourism numbers are rising, hitting 27.4 million in 2023, but half of those were religious visitors.  The […]

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman attends a meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, September 11, 2024. Saudi Press Agency/Handout via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS PICTURE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY

The huge ambitions of PIF come at vast expense

The scale of the holdings is vast and the ambition is huge. Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund was the world’s highest-spending state-owned investor in the first half of 2024, according to Global SWF, a consultancy.   It is due to raise its annual spending to $70 billion in 2025, a year earlier than previously announced, according […]

A concept image of the Thuwal island resort. New hotels there are due to open in weeks

Red Sea Global to open Thuwal island resort in weeks

Saudi giga-project Red Sea Global will open hotels at a second site within weeks and more at a third location will open next year, the luxury resort developer said this week.  The company, a subsidiary of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), will open a private island called Thuwal just north of Jeddah, followed by […]

Saudi cultural Music is one of the sectors to benefit from funding as part of Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 programme

Five Saudi banks to finance cultural development fund

Five Saudi banks have agreed to provide financing for a new arts fund managed by Saudi Arabia’s Cultural Development Fund, which has been leading government support for the arts since 2021.  The agreement with Al-Rajhi Bank, Alinma Bank, Banque Saudi Fransi, Arab National Bank and Bank Aljazira will provide support to private sector projects in […]

Saudi Arabia's Minister of Transport, Saleh bin Nasser Al-Jasser, speaks during the Future Aviation Forum in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, May 9, 2022. REUTERS/Ahmed Yosri

Riyadh metro to open this year, Saudi minister says

Riyadh’s delayed metro system will officially open later this year, the Saudi minister of transport said this week, as the kingdom’s rapidly expanding capital wrestles with crippling traffic congestion.  “The Royal Commission for Riyadh has said it will open this year,” Saleh Al-Jasser, the transport minister, said in an interview with Saudi-owned Al Arabiya TV.  […]

The Rig infrastructure Saudi giga-projects

Saudi infrastructure provider signs on for The Rig giga-project

Saudi adventure tourism project The Rig has contracted a local company to develop the infrastructure for one of the kingdom’s more outlandish giga-projects.  The Public Investment Fund (PIF) company said International Maritime Industries (IMI) had formally agreed to provide maritime logistics and infrastructure for the project, which has an ambitious target date of 2027.  The […]

PIF is investing in growing sectors in the Saudi economy with IT making up 9.4% of its domestic investments

Saudi Arabia’s PIF is focused on the home advantage

The value of Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund’s domestic assets under management have doubled year on year in further evidence of a strategy to focus investments in the kingdom. The AuM, referred to in the fund’s annual report as “Saudi sector development (SSD)” increased from 21 percent to 33 percent last year. The investments are […]

International investors previously faced 'restrictions on certain activities' and 'delays in transferring funds', but this will now change, says Mohammad Alshammari

Riyadh’s investment law reforms tipped to win over sceptics

Saudi Arabia’s investment law reforms are poised to release a backlog of pent-up deals – and are a tacit admission that procedures have often been cumbersome, analysts have told AGBI. Under the overhaul announced on Sunday, elements of Vision 2030 and the National Investment Strategy will be combined in a single framework that aims to […]

Khalid Al Falil, Saudi Arabia's investment minister, said the legal reforms were building 'on an extensive diversification agenda'

Riyadh revamps investment law as it seeks giga-project cash

Saudi Arabia has updated its investment laws as it looks to attract more private sector funding for giga-projects. The update, announced on Sunday, pulls together Vision 2030 reforms and the National Investment Strategy under one framework. It aims to provide investors with “greater transparency, flexibility and confidence”, according to a government statement. Saudi Arabia has […]

The Jeddah Tower, previously known as the Kingdom Tower, under construction in 2019. Binladin Group is bidding for contracts on the revived project

Finance ministry to help Binladin Group pay off debts

Saudi Arabia’s finance ministry has said it will lend Binladin Group money to pay back debts to banks. It is also considering raising its stake in the construction giant.  The finance ministry’s Al Istedamah Holding currently holds around 36 percent of Binladin Group, a private company owned by the Bin Ladin family since it was […]

Saudi real estate hiring

Saudi real estate hiring drops amid giga-project review

Saudi Arabia’s review of its many giga-projects dented real estate hiring in the country in the second quarter of this year, driving a larger decline across the GCC. The drop, revealed by Cooper Fitch’s latest Gulf Employment Index which tracks new hires, mirrors a broader slowdown in the Saudi property and construction markets. However, it […]

People, Person, Adult Jeddah Central Development Stadium will have a capacity of 45,000 and it is hoped will become the home of two football clubs after the World Cup

Saudi Arabia’s World Cup bid outlines 11 new stadiums

Saudi Arabia plans to build 11 new stadiums as part of its 2034 World Cup bid, including one inside its horizontal city The Line, but without any breakdown of the costs.  The Saudi bid – which is expected to win formal Fifa approval this year – centres on five cities: Riyadh, Jeddah, Khobar, Abha and […]

Weaker consumer spending has led retailers to cutting prices in attempt to win customers Woman shopping coffee window

Saudi Arabia’s GDP falls as revenue tightens

Saudi Arabia’s economy contracted in the second quarter of 2024 as non-oil activity slowed amid retail pricecutting. However, the end of oil output cuts next year could give the country’s coffers a much-needed boost.  The General Authority for Statistics said in its latest report this week that real GDP fell 0.4 percent compared to the […]

2030 population forecasts for Riyadh have been revised in line with the scaling back of giga-project construction

Giga-project slowdown to hit Riyadh population growth

Riyadh’s population is unlikely to meet a growth target by 2030, when it is due to host the World Expo, as giga-projects are scaled back.  Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman set an ambitious goal for the population to grow to between 15 and 20 million in 2021. However it is now absent from the website […]

People, Person, Adult

Diriyah awards $2bn contract for Wadi Safar

Diriyah Company has awarded its largest single contract to a Saudi-Qatari joint venture for the Wadi Safar project. The SAR8 billion ($2 billion) contract was awarded to the joint venture between Urbacon Saudi Company, the local unit of Qatar’s Urbacon International, and Saudi-headquartered Al Bawani Company, the state-backed Saudi Press Agency reported. The contract includes […]

PIF's Fahad AlSaif. The fund is 'becoming more domestically oriented', analysts say

PIF appoints investment chief as it shifts focus to local projects

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund has appointed a head of investments as it seeks to manage funding challenges for the giga-projects at the centre of the country’s economic transformation programme.  Fahad AlSaif will be responsible for “guiding the development of PIF’s overarching investment strategy” and helping the fund’s leadership in its decisions, a statement said.  […]

Outdoors, Nature, Sea

Neom to create ‘bridge’ hotel

US hospitality company Equinox Hotels will open its first hotel in Magna, a lifestyle coastal destination within the Neom giga project. Equinox Resort Treyam will be designed as a 450m long bridge-like structure that will appear to float 40m above a lagoon. The hotel will feature guest rooms and suites, a 450m pool, new culinary […]

Videos released last month show construction of the Royal Arts Complex at King Salman Park is well underway

Full steam ahead on ‘largest urban park in the world’

Saudi Arabia is forging ahead with construction of what it calls the “largest urban park in the world”, publishing videos of its first buildings under construction after a tunnel opened earlier this year.  King Salman Park in Riyadh is owned by the Public Investment Fund and was recently valued by real estate consultancy Knight Frank […]