The ground-breaking ceremony of a huge new entertainment resort just outside of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, took place last week, attended by the Saudi King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (pictured centre and right). The location is at Qiddiya, around one hour’s drive from the capital.
Source: Reuters / Courtesy of Saudi Royal Court
The land allocated to the new project is 334sq.km. This makes the location over twice the size of Disney World. The venue will contain a Six Flags theme park, water parks, motor sports, cultural events and holiday homes. It is expected to attraction 1.5m visitors each year. The first phase is due to open in 2022 and the cost is estimated at US$8bn.
A temporary auditorium was erected for the ground-breaking ceremony and it was accompanied by an orchestra, concert and fireworks.
Project CEO Michael Reininger told the press that finance for the project would come from local and international sources, including bonds, direct investment and other sources to add to the principal input coming from the Saudi Public Investment Fund.
The fund was set up to help transform the previously conservative and traditional Saudi lifestyle, recognising that over 50 per cent of the country’s population is now under 35 and are afforded little entertainment. One of the objects is to help cut the billions of Saudi Riyals leaving the country for neighbouring UAE and Bahrain as Saudi’s seek entertainment at weekends. Reininger is a US development mogul who previously worked on a high-speed rail system for Florida, oversaw major resort developments for Disney and was a senior executive at engineering company AECOM.
