According to a recent study by the Riyadh Development Authority, the Saudi capital’s annual population growth rate is 4.2 percent. This figure has been maintained since 1996 — a period of almost 10 years. For the same period, the movement of people from other parts of the Kingdom to Riyadh was also high — 2.4 percent.
These figures indicate that Riyadh is becoming more crowded each year; public services, including education, health, transport, municipality and others, are barely able to cope with the rapid population increase. This situation calls for preemptive measures and solutions that address problems head-on instead of waiting for it to worsen and then scrambling willy-nilly for remedies.
I think one possible solution which might help lessen the pressure would be to develop the provinces surrounding the capital, turning them into attractive smaller urban centers. It is after all from these surrounding areas that most of the new people in Riyadh come from. If these areas were developed and provided with necessary services, we might be able to check the number of people moving to Riyadh. If the people found themselves in an urban environment offering jobs and services, not far from the capital, the need for them to leave their villages would no longer exist.
The study showed that the largest number of people moving to Riyadh come from rural areas adjacent to the capital; they account for 20 percent of the new residents. Such figures pose a serious challenge to planners in their search to strike a balance between meeting the growing needs of a fast-growing city and also developing its surrounding areas.
The problems facing Riyadh will not come to an end as long as the city continues to attract thousands of new residents and maintain its high growth rate. Any attempt to address Riyadh’s problems at the expense of rural areas will only exacerbate the situation.
It is also a fact that the main reasons for people moving out of rural areas into urban ones are employment and education. Cities provide more opportunities for both. Diverting some of these opportunities into rural areas would be sufficient reason for people to remain in their areas and would in turn lessen pressure on the cities.
None of these measures, however, will give the desired results unless accompanied by resolve and tough action. Among the drastic steps needed is to stop licensing new universities and colleges unless they are built in the provinces.
We also need to establish industrial cities in the provinces that would eventually lead to attracting more population support and be responsible for industrial activity. These cities should all be linked with metropolitan Riyadh by means of a modern and fast transportation network. The population would then very likely remain at home instead of moving to the capital.
