Details of phase one of the Qiddiya giga-project were revealed yesterday at the entertainment city’s welcome centre outside Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The world’s press saw a compelling presentation from Qiddiya Investment Company CEO Mike Reininger and Andreas Pedersen, a partner at Danish architecture and design firm the Bjarke Ingels Group, in which the initial stages of development were outlined.
“The idea for Qiddiya is simple yet powerful,” said Reininger, “to create a place that unlocks the opportunities and virtues that entertainment, sports and the arts can contribute to a healthy, happy and engaging lifestyle. It’s an idea that resonates with the kingdom’s young, smart and progressive population who share the universal desire for these opportunities and experiences. That is an idea that is fully aligned with the principal tenets of Vision 2030.”
Saudi Vision 2030 is the plan to reduce Saudi Arabia's dependence on oil, diversify its economy and develop public service sectors such as health, education, infrastructure, recreation and tourism. Qiddiya is but one part of this ambitious undertaking.
The 334sq.km “epic location,” as Pedersen described it, is an area of stunning natural beauty surrounded by cliffs that inspired the development’s logo. While a large section of the area is to be transformed into a contemporary, vibrant destination city, two thirds of the entire plot will be left in its natural state. “Only one third of the land will be developed while the rest will be protected and preserved for future generations,” said Pedersen. The first phase will involve more than 45 projects and 300 activities across creative, hospitality entertainment and sport sectors.
Qiddiya will be split into five distinct areas: the resort core, city centre, ocean zone, eco zone and Gulf residential community.
Shows and events, with up to 40,000 attendees, will play out alongside the Qiddya Six Flags amusement park, an “aquatic playground,” resort hotels, a speed park dedicated to motorsports, retail and residential areas, all connected with a transport system among pedestrian boulevards and “urban esplanades.”
The Qiddiya Investment Company has also launched an “international design exploration,” which has tasked 20 global architects with designing 12 main features and some of Qiddiya’s landmarks. The results of these will be exhibited towards the end of the year.
The overall aim of the development, Reininger said, is to create a hub to generate job opportunities through the provision of entertainment, sports and arts facilities. He said Qiddiya aims to create at least 17,000 new employment opportunities.
“Today we are 200 and we have to have 17,000 people in order to make Qiddiya come to life. There are 17,000 brand new job opportunities in areas and industries that Saudis haven’t had access to before,” he revealed.
The company recently opened a large-scale training development programme that is focused on building a Saudi-oriented workforce to take all of those jobs and “give this place a Saudi face.”
A partnership with the University of Central Florida, which has the largest hospitality and sports-management education system in the world, has been launched to develop the talent required.
Reininger said: “We put this programme together where we have 60 scholarships for Saudi students to send them to university to obtain the specific education that they need, so that when they come back we will give them jobs and they will have the information and the knowledge they need to be able to enter these new fields that are opening up in the kingdom.”
The CEO told the assembled press that 3,000 students applied for 60 scholarships within 48 hours of the announcement of the program two weeks ago.
While the super-city will be open to all, initially, the target demographic is Saudi citizens themselves, Reininger said in the post-presentation Q&A session. Following this, the plan is to entice visitors from the wider Gulf area and then the international market.
Construction of the infrastructure has already commenced to help prepare for the targeted early 2023 grand opening. Further key announcements are due in the coming weeks including the design of Six Flags Qiddiya and details of new strategic partnerships.
Image: (L-R) Qiddiya Investment Company CEO Mike Reininger and Andreas Pedersen, partner at Danish architecture and design firm the Bjarke Ingels Group, present the master plan at the press conference
