WHEN historians look back on the extraordinary economic developments now taking place in the Kingdom, there can be little doubt the project epitomizing them will be the $26.6 billion King Abdullah City.
Everything about this remarkable plan — for which Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah laid the foundation stone Tuesday — calls for superlatives. This is not only the biggest single infrastructure project ever seen in the region, it is also one of the world’s largest. Creating a massive city from scratch with an ultramodern port alongside 35 kilometers of shoreline is frankly breathtaking. Sprawling US industrial conurbations may be about as big, but they have grown up piecemeal over many years. This is a scheme in which the planners have started with a blank sheet. They have thus been given a unique opportunity to include all that is best in modern city and industrial planning and design, while excluding all the disadvantages, such as poor transport systems and isolated neighborhoods without true community focal points.
King Abdullah Economic City is all about investment. It is being developed by the private sector’s Emaar Properties in a consortium that includes the Saudi Arabian Investment Authority (SAGIA). Thirty percent of the investment vehicle’s shares will be sold to the public. It will thus be private investors who will provide the funds. And this money will in turn hopefully attract even greater amounts of foreign investment. If all goes according to plan, King Abdullah Economic City will create half a million new jobs and bring billions in foreign investment to the Kingdom.
Work on this project will add to the logistical challenges, particularly for construction firms already embarked upon other projects up and down the country. Over and above the individual project planning, all ministries concerned will have to work closely together to coordinate the implementation of what will clearly be highly demanding schedules. The infrastructure transformation of the Kingdom over the last thirty years has been a truly remarkable achievement, but the new five-year plan and the jewel in its crown, the King Abdullah Economic City are going to make claims of quite a different order of magnitude. No project anywhere in the world ever goes smoothly. It is, however, up to the senior officials to ensure that mistakes and delays are kept to a minimum and when they do occur, there must be a contingency plan to sort them out. Foreigners, whose flow of investment into the Kingdom in the first half of this year increased an almost unbelievable 17-fold to $17.3 billion, will be sitting up and taking notice of a project of such vision and ambition. The very breadth of its conception has given it a very special momentum. It is now up to all involved to make sure that this initial momentum is not allowed to diminish and that the city will be carried forward to success in both design and commercial terms of which all Saudis can be intensely proud.
