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From Neom to Diriyah Gate — gigaprojects are changing the face of the Kingdom and creating significant opportunity for the private sector as a cornerstone of Saudi’s pivot away from oil.
Are all of the announcements making your head spin? Here’s a primer to help you get oriented:
#1- Neom is the crown jewel with a price tag of USD 500 bn, placing it comfortably as the most expensive construction and infrastructure project in the world, according to Construction Briefing. Neom’s flagship project, The Line, will alone cost anywhere between USD 100 bn to 200 bn. The futuristic project plans to run purely on renewable energy and accommodate 9 mn people in a 34 sq km area. “We’ve done a lot of the foundation work, literally and figuratively. We are ready to go,” The Line Chief Development Officer Denis Hickey said in a February progress report.
#2- Next on the list: Diriyah: Diriyah Gate, another PIF development, was launched to develop the UNESCO World Heritage site that was the ancestral home of the royal family at a cost of USD 63 bn. Its developer, the Diriyah Gate Development Authority, invested USD 7.5 bn in 2022 to set up infrastructure for the project, which will be home to multiple hotels and residential properties as well as entertainment including a Formula-E race track. (Diriyah was host of a 2024 E-Prix in January.)
#3- AlUla is being developed into a SAR 57 bn tourism destination, with some 9k hotel rooms, 38k new jobs, and a SAR 120 bn (USD 32 bn) annual contribution to GDP by 2035, the destination’s slated date for completion. So far, SAR 7.5 bn has been spent on “the expansion of AlUla International Airport … developing key tourism assets, including Ashar estate and the iconic Maraya multi-purpose events venue,” according to the the Royal Commission for AlUla.
#4- New Murabba: The USD 50 bn 19 km downtown is anticipated to include over 104k residential units, 9k-keys hotel, and a range of supplementary amenities in the Northwest region of Riyadh, featuring a tech and design university, a museum, along with other cultural venues. New Murabbah is a 20 minute drive from King Khalid International Airport and will be home to a skyscraper that developers say will become an “iconic” feature of the Riyadh skyline. The new venture is expected to inject SAR 180 bn into the Kingdom’s non-oil economy, while also generating 334k jobs by 2030.
Alo in Riyadh: King Salman Park, a green, pedestrian-friendly destination that will be home to office space, the Royal Institute of Traditional Arts, the Museum of World Cultures, a 2.3k-seat National Theater, meeting space, and world-class sports facilities, among other features. It has awarded bns of SAR worth of construction contracts.
#5- Your next favorite entertainment destination: Qiddiya. Spearheaded by the PIF’s Qiddiya Investment Company (QIC), the multi-bn USD development aims to become the world’s largest entertainment hub. The district will be home to the world’s first-ever Dragon Ball themed park, a Six Flags theme park, and a multi-use stadium where it plans to host major sports, cultural and entertainment events, including games at the 2034 Fifa World Cup. The destination will also be home to the world’s first gaming and esports district.
#6- And Red Sea destination: The PIF-backed Red Sea Global is also working on its portfolio, which includes the Red Sea, Amaala and Thuwal at a cost of USD 20 bn. In 2023, RSG opened two destinations — Six Senses Southern Dunes and St. Regis The Red Sea Resort — and will open a further 24 resorts and add 4.2k keys this year, its CEO John Pagano told AGBI. The Red Sea Developer has spent USD 5 bn so far, and will pour an additional USD 15 bn this year, he said.
Not just any sustainable city: The project, which is estimated to contribute USD 9 bn to the Kingdom’s GDP, looks beyond being just a sustainable city. “Sustainability is no longer enough, so we’ve moved away from sustainability. We talk about regenerative development, we try to make the place better than when we found it,” Pagano said in an interview last year.
Set to welcome international visitors soon: The Red Sea International Airport (RSI) will receive its first international flight this month in a new twice-weekly route linking Dubai International (DXB) to RSI. State-owned airline Saudia has been running domestic flights to RSI since September 2023.
#7- Masar: the 1.2 mn sqm strip in Makkah leading to the Grand Mosque will boast of hotels, retail, and residential and office space. Construction is 25% complete, with SAR 40 bn in investments already deployed.
#8- Oxagon (AKA Neom’s industrial city): A floating port city located near the Suez Canal, will serve as a logistics and industrial center, creating 90k jobs by 2030. Its talked-up port is expected to have a capacity of over 1.5 mn containers by 2025, CEO Vishal Wanchoo told Asharq Al-Awsat. The first phase of construction for its first permanent residential compound is slated to start in 2026, Wanchoo added.
PAYING FOR IT ALL- The government will need to line up USD 640 bn to fund its construction pipeline, just for the next 5 years, squeezing local lenders for USD 384 bn if they are to take up 60% of the pipeline, Bloomberg reports, citing data compiled by Dubai-based analysis firm MEED.
