Diriyah CEO sets the record straight
17 February 2025
Register for MEED’s 14-day trial access | Beat the queue for the Saudi Gigaprojects 2025 summit (12-14 May)
There can be few busier people in Saudi construction right now than Jerry Inzerillo, group CEO of Diriyah Company, the developer behind the $63.2bn Diriyah gigaproject.
A charismatic New Yorker with the distinctive accent to match, he has been the most visible persona behind what is arguably one of the most impressive and advanced projects of the kingdom’s $1tn capital expenditure drive.
Centred around the At-Turaif Unesco World Heritage Site on the western outskirts of Riyadh, Diriyah has opened its first assets to the public, most notably the retail-focused Bujairi Terrace and its first hotel, the Luxury Collection Bab Samhan Hotel.
These are already proving popular; even on a weekday lunchtime, the former was packed with Saudis enjoying a meal or simply walking between the rows of upscale boutiques enveloped in Diriyah’s characteristic Najdi architectural style.
At night, Bujairi Terrace is so busy that advanced tickets are required just to enter the precinct to avoid overcrowding.
Opened in December 2022, Diriyah's Bujairi Terrace offers an array of restaurants and cafes
Asset manager role
Managing this is a new challenge for Diriyah Company as it transitions from a developer primarily focused on infrastructure delivery to one that is now also operating as an asset manager for its completed elements.
“Think about it: right now in the day, we have 40,000 construction workers on site, but last night, we had 13,000 people visiting At-Turaif,” Inzerillo said in early January.
“We’re trading; we’re open; we’re earning revenues from Bab Samhan, the first of 40 hotels to open. It’s already trading very, very well – it’s going to be a very popular hotel.
“I’ve been here 6.5 years now and I’m more optimistic than I’ve ever been.”
Visitors are not just there to shop and eat. Diriyah’s protocol department now has more than 20 staff to handle between nine and 15 protocol moments a day.
“Heads of state, cabinet members and prominent CEOs come every day to see His Royal Highness [Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman]. They view the masterplans, see it being built and then have a meal before going to the Unesco site,” says Inzerillo.
I’m seeing robust interest and activity now, not just kicking the tyres as we say in New York. I’m seeing people really coming up to us now. We have dozens of deals right now. We’re very far down the road in terms of equity
Jerry Inzerillo, group CEO of Diriyah Company
Concrete proof of delivery
The Diriyah CEO spoke with MEED at the opening of two new $200m substations built by Saudi Electricity Company to serve the gigaproject specifically. His presence at the event was a reminder of how keen Diriyah Company is to tell the world – and potential investors – about the development’s progress.
It is no secret that the gigaprojects programme has failed to attract the amount of local or foreign sector investment that it may have initially expected. Opinions vary, but it is fair to say a lack of clarity on project scopes, timeframes and visions, combined with the Covid pandemic and missteps in the initial communication strategy on what the gigaprojects stood for, have all been stumbling blocks in drawing in private investment.
However, this is changing as the gigaprojects themselves start to be delivered and more concrete proof of their demand potential is made clear.
Not that Inzerillo has any doubts about their ultimate investment potential and successful delivery. When asked about these issues, his response was clear: “Look I think there are two factors [behind these issues] and I don’t see them as unhealthy. In fact, it’s the opposite – I see them as healthy,” he asserts.
“Our [Saudi Arabia’s] intention was to take tourism from 3% of GDP to 10% by 2030, while our target was to attract 100 million visits by the same date. We achieved this by December 2023. We’ve already broken 5% of GDP and we feel very confident that we’ll make the 10% objective.
“We’re now putting the infrastructure in the new 58 million square-metre King Salman International airport and other transport infrastructure around the country. All the gigaprojects are opening hotels; for example, look at the great work being done along the Red Sea coast; the great work being done now on Qiddiya.
“So, I think what happened was a lot of people said, ‘Ok, we believe in Saudi Arabia. We certainly believe in its vision. But you know what? We’re going to wait a year or two till we see evidence that the projects are progressing as projected. We intend to be in the kingdom a long time, so let’s wait a year or two before committing.’”
JOIN THE LEADERS BUILDING VISION 2030 AT THE 3RD EDITION OF MEED's SAUDI GIGAPROJECTS SUMMIT
12-14 May – Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER YOUR INTEREST
Optimistic outlook
Inzerillo highlights Covid’s impact on the investment environment, adding that it delayed investment plans by two years, but appetite has now caught up.
“I’m seeing robust interest and activity now, not just kicking the tyres as we say in New York,” he states. “I’m seeing people really coming up to us now. We have dozens of deals right now. We’re very far down the road in terms of equity.
“I’m feeling very, very optimistic. I mean, you would think the CEO would naturally be optimistic, but I’m seeing a lot of evidence now.”
This bullishness is underpinned by three huge contracts awarded last year, totalling more than $5.6bn to build the North Cultural and Qurain Avenue districts, forming core components of the Diriyah Gate (DG) 1 phase of the gigaproject, as well as hotel and leisure assets on its residential and hospitality-focused Wadi Safar district.
The pace of activity is continuing into 2025 with a number of major contracts under tender or bid evaluation on the DG2 second phase, including three interchanges on King Khalid Road, the King Salman Grand Mosque, Royal Diriyah Opera House, infrastructure development works, the Northern Community and Diriyah Arena assets.
Just as significant was the award in early January of a $114m contract covering architectural construction and design services for DG2’s Boulevard District. One of the centrepieces of this second phase, the boulevard will be almost two kilometres long and will be lined on both sides by luxury boutiques and restaurants. Construction work on the boulevard should start in 2026.
One of the largest palaces in Diriyah, Salwa Palace extends over an area of 10,000 square metres
On time, on budget
Maintaining this pace of procurement is important given some of the – often negative – headlines following the ‘pause’ in gigaproject spending in the first half of 2024 as the government and the gigaproject companies’ owner, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), assessed their priorities and expenditure allocations in the face of soaring costs and timelines that threatened to be missed.
While much of this attention has been on Neom, particularly its The Line component, other gigaprojects such as The Red Sea, Roshn and Qiddiya threaten to be put into the same basket, an argument Inzerillo is keen to set straight.
“Now, one has to deal with real economic facts, and that is that post-Covid, you had major supply chain issues, which caused this hyperinflation. We’ve taken that into consideration and made adjustments. We’re on time, we’re on budget,” he stresses.
“We’ve been very fortunate because of our track record. We have a rockstar team. None of our funding has been even touched in the slightest by the PIF.”
Diriyah has had success in mitigating soaring materials and contracting costs primarily by bundling different works packages into the three ‘mega’ contracts awarded in 2024 as a means of consolidating work to just a handful of contractors.
At the same time, it secured long-term supply agreements from local manufacturers for key materials such as windows, doors and concrete. Scope revisions, such as the incorporation of the originally planned DG3 residential district into the DG1 element, have also contributed to putting a lid on cost pressures.
“We always said we had five gigaprojects,” explains Inzerillo. “We had the DG1 historical district. We had DG2, which is 500 tech companies, 100 media companies and 50 entertainment companies. And then there was talk about DG3. When we revisited DG3, it really was just an extension of DG1. So now what we’ve done is [merged] what was called DG3 into DG1. In other words, we merged two phases into one family, but the investment remains the same.”
Reprioritisation of resources
As for last year’s re-evaluation of the gigaprojects’ priorities and delays to the programme overall, Inzerillo attributes these to unforeseen events.
“Now, here’s the other point about the reprioritisation,” he says, referring to last year’s slowdown in gigaproject activity. “Three years ago, no one had any definitive evidence that Saudi Arabia would win the 2027 Asian football games. Three years ago, no one knew that we would be able to win the Winter Asian Games. Three years ago, no one knew we would win the 2030 World Expo in Riyadh. And three years ago, no one predicted the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia would win the 2034 World Cup.
“So, what would need to happen to do those four global events? The answer is, of course, it requires a reprioritisation of resources because now there’s a giant emphasis on delivering these events, especially in Riyadh …. It’s a natural recalibration to host these global events to diversify the economy and certainly hyper stimulate tourism.”
The PIF is expected to provide another SR12bn this year for further development at the gigaproject
Investor interest
Inzerillo, who started his varied, five-decade career in the kitchens of a Brooklyn catering company and then onto senior hotel management positions in the US and South Africa before heading up both IMG Artists and the Forbes Travel Guide, is equally forthright about Diriyah’s investment potential and the success it has had to date, even if much of it has yet to be formally announced.
“We have a very big interest from investors now,” he says. “I’m seeing my investment division getting really busy, which is very encouraging. I think that when we get to this time next year, we’re going to see a big repetition of what I call replacement equity.
“On some of the commercial assets right now, we’re getting great interest from foreign equity. We’ve had several cases now where foreign partners, such as Saudi, GCC and international partners, have seen the project out of the ground. They can really see it right in front of them.
“We have a major development with a retail developer from Italy and one from Colombia on buying hotels and going into residential sales with us as joint-venture partners. Funding has been front-loaded from the PIF, which is why it’s important to be a gigaproject within the PIF family. What’s also important is that it allows us to keep up the pace and, more importantly, maintain our quality.”
To date, the PIF has funded all of the infrastructure works on the gigaproject and is expected to provide another SR12bn this year for further development.
But at some point, Diriyah Company and the other PIF project subsidiaries are expected to obtain financing, particularly once they start earning revenues. Neom and Red Sea Global have already successfully raised funds through a combination of bond issuances and corporate loan agreements, and Diriyah itself is likely to go down the same route.
Likewise, it is expected to eventually go public when the time is right.
“When will that happen,” says Inzerillo. “That will obviously depend on PIF’s input, which is very important, but we’ve already started the process of getting ready for an initial public offering at some point. I’d be very happy to see that happen before 2030 as I think it would be a great accomplishment. And I’m optimistic to that effect.”
With its first assets up and running and a record value of contracts awarded in 2024, Diriyah is developing at a rapid pace and its CEO is clearly confident it will have most of its core components ready by the launch of the World Expo 2030.
Much still needs to be done, however. Line 2 of the Riyadh metro will be extended into the development, where it will interchange with the planned Line 7, linking the new King Salman International airport with Qiddiya via Diriyah. The Q Express, a planned express train linking the airport with the entertainment gigaproject, will also stop at Diriyah. All three projects will be handled by other clients and, therefore, somewhat out of Diriyah Company’s direct control.
Likewise, it remains unclear what the full impact of Expo 2030 and the 2034 World Cup will be on the project ecosystem in the capital. Combined with the giant New Murabba development and ongoing works on the King Salman Park and Sports Boulevard megaprojects, the market is not likely to settle any time soon.
And despite all the positive talk, there are still very few concrete announced investments in the gigaprojects. Yet, with its first areas already opened and other key elements well under way, Diriyah is arguably better placed than most to capitalise on this unprecedented investment opportunity.
Register for MEED's guest program now to access this article.
Exclusive from Meed
-
Egypt’s Obelisk equity move merits attention27 February 2026
-
Petrokemya awards contract for ethylene oxide project27 February 2026
-
Regulatory environment shifting for Kuwait oil and gas tenders27 February 2026
-
Local firms win $378m Qatar project contracts27 February 2026
-
Kuwait awards oil pier contract27 February 2026
All of this is only 1% of what MEED.com has to offer
Subscribe now and unlock all the 153,671 articles on MEED.com
- All the latest news, data, and market intelligence across MENA at your fingerprints
- First-hand updates and inside information on projects, clients and competitors that matter to you
- 20 years' archive of information, data, and news for you to access at your convenience
- Strategize to succeed and minimise risks with timely analysis of current and future market trends
Related Articles
-
Egypt’s Obelisk equity move merits attention
27 February 2026
Commentary
Mark Dowdall
Power & water editorThe first phase of Africa’s planned largest hybrid solar and battery installation project reached commercial operations this week. While the 1.1GW Obelisk facility in Egypt is significant in capacity terms, the more interesting detail may lie in its ownership structure.
Scatec secured the 25-year US dollar-denominated power purchase agreement in 2024 and moved the project into construction as majority shareholder with Norwegian Investment Fund for Developing Countries (Norfund).
In November, France’s EDF acquired a 20% equity stake to join the project as a shareholder, while discussions with additional equity partners are at an “advanced” stage.
With the development risk largely already absorbed and revenues secured under a long-term, dollar-denominated contract, the question arises: how are developers approaching capital allocation in the renewables market?
Especially in emerging markets, sponsors must consider currency convertibility, sovereign exposure and overall balance sheet concentration. Bringing in partners after key milestones reduces that exposure without abandoning the asset.
However, risk mitigation is not the only driver behind these decisions.
This week, Masdar agreed to sell a 60% stake in a portfolio of wind assets in Portugal, a more mature European market with stable regulation and limited currency risk.
Given the developer’s 100GW global target, this would seem a prudent way to recycle capital as part of an aggressive growth strategy.
Meeting global climate targets will require sustained and rapid expansion of renewable capacity. Estimates suggest the world must add more than 1,100GW of renewables annually through 2030 to remain on track.
Increasingly, as pipelines expand and capacity targets rise, developers are likely to weigh carefully when to hold assets and when to release capital.
https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/15798541/main.jpg -
Petrokemya awards contract for ethylene oxide project
27 February 2026
Register for MEED’s 14-day trial access
Petrokemya, an affiliate of Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic), has awarded China National Chemical Engineering Group Corporation (CNCEC) the main contract for an ethylene oxide catalyst project.
The project covers engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) of a new 4,000-tonne-a-year (t/y) ethylene oxide catalyst production unit, encompassing multiple units for catalyst carrier washing and drying, as well as supporting utilities.
Ethylene oxide catalysts are the core technology of the ethylene oxide industry chain, directly determining production efficiency, product quality and energy consumption of the process unit.
Petrokemya is a wholly owned affiliate of Sabic, with its main petrochemical production complex located in Jubail Industrial City, in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province.
The ethylene oxide catalyst project is the ninth contract awarded by Petrokemya to CNCEC since 2015. Previous jobs cover EPC works on seven specialty chemical projects and a project to upgrade and expand output capacity at Petrokemya’s main methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) production unit.
Petrokemya awarded CNCEC the contract for the MTBE plant expansion project in November 2022, with the contractor starting work the following month.
Through the project, the output potential of Petrokemya’s MTBE unit will increase from 700,000 t/y to 1 million t/y, purportedly making it the world’s largest single-unit MTBE plant.
CNCEC achieved mechanical completion of the MTBE plant expansion project in August last year, and the project is now understood to have been commissioned.
https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/15797372/main4837.jpg -
Regulatory environment shifting for Kuwait oil and gas tenders
27 February 2026
Changes to the way key contracts are tendered in Kuwait have increased expectations that the country is shifting to a new regulatory environment for oil and gas projects.
Contractors interested in bidding for Kuwait’s planned tender for a $3.3bn gas processing facility have been briefed that the country’s Central Agency for Public Tenders (Capt) will not be involved in the tender process.
The exclusion of Capt from participating in the tender process has come at a time of increasing concerns surrounding the role of the agency, and has sparked speculation that it could be excluded from an increasing number of strategic tenders in future.
Capt is responsible for reviewing technical and commercial evaluations of bids and verifying that bidding is competitive.
Prior to its suspension in May 2024, Kuwait’s parliament was often blamed for blocking projects and halting the initiatives of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC).
However, the suspension of parliament has not triggered an uptick in project activity at KPC, indicating that other problems are holding back decision-making.
As time has passed, many stakeholders have started to view Capt as a key sticking point in the tendering process.
One source said: “There is a lot of frustration within some parts of the country’s oil and gas sector about the time it takes for Capt to review everything and approve a tender.”
Although this is not completely unheard of for small contracts tendered by Kuwait Gulf Oil Company (KGOC) to bypass Capt, it is unusual to see very large contracts bypass the agency.
“A lot of people were very surprised when they heard that Capt would not be involved in this process,” said one source.
“While the agency is resented by many in the sector that see it as a big reason for a lot of delays, it’s also highly respected for stopping corruption and bad practices.
“If you look historically at which large contracts avoided a review by Capt or its predecessor, it was only the most critical and urgent projects.
“The fact that this project is being permitted to side-step the agency’s process seems to mark a shift – and we could well see more big contracts following the same route in the future.”
Past exceptions
An example of a time period when key contracts were allowed to bypass Kuwait’s Central Tenders Committee (CTC), the predecessor to Capt, was in 1991.
During this time, in the wake of the Gulf War, urgent contracts needed to be tendered by Kuwait Oil Company (KOC), including some related to extinguishing fires at oil wells, which were lit by retreating Iraqi troops.
One source said: “I think the early nineties was the last time that large contracts were tendered by KOC without going through the relevant agency.
“It is easier to bypass Capt when it is a KGOC contract, but it’s still very surprising to see it with a contract of this size.”
If more contracts in the future are “fast-tracked” in the same way, it is likely that many stakeholders will welcome the effort to speed up tendering.
However, some are worried that if the streamlined tendering model is replicated too widely, it could undermine checks and balances that stop corruption.
“Kuwait is lucky as it has a system that makes corrupt practices very difficult to participate in,” said one source.
“The country needs to be careful and make sure that it doesn’t undermine the rigour of the system by prioritising convenience.”
Direct awards
Another factor that has impacted expectations about the future of project tendering in Kuwait’s oil and gas sector is that the methods used for several large contracts have been recently tendered in other sectors.
Key tenders that are impacting the discussions surrounding Kuwait’s oil and gas sector are the award of the $4bn Grand Mubarak Port contract to China Harbour Engineering Company in December and the award of a $3.3bn wastewater treatment plant contract to China State Construction Engineering Corporation in January.
Both of those direct contract awards were government-to-government agreements that did not have an open tender process in Kuwait and were not approved by Capt.
One source said: “These huge contract awards to Chinese companies without open tenders in Kuwait were extremely surprising.
“If you had asked me at the start of last year whether this kind of thing would be signed off, I would have told you it’s highly unlikely.
“I think there is no reason why we couldn’t see similar contract awards coming in the future in Kuwait’s oil and gas sector.”
Another source said: “Just like the gas processing contract, these contracts awarded to Chinese firms seem to have side-stepped Capt in a way that is very surprising.”
The planned $3.3bn gas processing facility is not the first time that KPC has tried to reduce its reliance on Capt for processing tenders.
In April 2024, KPC launched its own tendering portal in an effort to streamline the tendering process for projects in the oil and gas sector.
The portal was named the “KPC and Subsidiaries K-Tendering Portal” and is referred to as “K-Tender” by contractors.
The portal gave KPC a way of tendering and communicating with contractors without relying on the Capt website.
“The K-Tender portal was a step towards reducing reliance on Capt and gave KPC the flexibility to tender projects without Capt, even though, at the time, KPC made it clear that it intended to list all tenders both on the Capt website and its own portal.”
The recent direct contract awards to Chinese contractors and the tendering process for the $3.3bn gas processing facility have sent a signal to contractors in the Kuwaiti market that more unusual tenders could be in the pipeline.
https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/15791028/main.gif -
Kuwait awards oil pier contract
27 February 2026
Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) has awarded local firm Gulf Dredging & General Contracting Company a $172m contract to help develop a new south arm facility at the Shuaiba oil pier.
The scope of the contract covers civil, marine, mechanical and electrical work, according to a statement.
Gulf Dredging & General Contracting Company is a subsidiary of Kuwait-headquartered Heisco.
The main contractor on the Shuaiba oil pier project is the Greek construction firm Archirodon. In October last year, KNPC awarded Archirodon a KD160m ($528m) contract to develop the new south arm facility.
The Shuaiba oil pier comprises several structures, including the approach trestle, the north arm facility and the south arm facility. A number of planned projects are to be developed at the Shuaiba port facilities.
The north arm facility consists of two berths, 31 and 32. When operational, it loads refined products for both KNPC and state-owned Petrochemicals Industries Company.
The north arm facility is currently not operational and will be upgraded as part of a separate project.
KNPC is a subsidiary of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC).
Last year, KPC chief executive Sheikh Nawaf Al-Sabah reiterated that the company plans to increase its oil production capacity to 4 million barrels a day by 2035.
About 90% of Kuwait’s oil production comes from Kuwait Oil Company, which also plans to achieve a daily gas production capacity of 1.5 trillion cubic feet by 2040.
Kuwait is estimated to have 100 billion barrels of oil reserves.
Under KPC’s 2040 strategy, it plans to invest $410bn, sourced from cash flow, debt and joint ventures with other businesses.
Of the $410bn, KPC and its subsidiaries intend to invest $110bn to accomplish the group’s energy transition targets.
https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/15791026/main.jpg -
Local firms win $378m Qatar project contracts
27 February 2026
Qatar’s Public Works Authority (Ashghal) has awarded construction contracts for two major projects in Doha to a pair of local contractors.
According to the results of the tender published on Ashghal’s website, a joint venture of Imar Trading & Contracting and Al-Sraiya Trading & Contracting won a QR1.1bn ($323m) contract for the redevelopment of Hamad General Hospital.
Qatar Building Engineering won the other QR198.5m ($55m) contract for the design and build of the new Q-Post headquarters building and sorting facility.
The two projects are part of 12 newly signed contracts announced by Ashghal earlier in February.
The other projects awarded include the renovation of the Qatar Racing & Equestrian Club and the Qatar Equestrian Federation, as well as the implementation of phase four of the Al-Uqda Equestrian complex development.
In the roads and infrastructure sector, four projects have been awarded, led by packages one and two of the road and infrastructure development works in Izghawa and Al-Thumaid.
The awards also include a project covering landscaping and an air-conditioned walkway at Qatar University, as part of broader public facilities improvement initiatives.
Mohammed Bin Abdulaziz Al-Meer, president of Ashghal, said that the projects have been awarded to Qatari firms, reflecting Ashghal’s commitment to strengthening the role of local companies.
According to UK analytics firm GlobalData, Qatar’s construction industry is expected to expand by 4.3% in 2026, supported by investments in renewable energy and transportation infrastructure.
According to the Planning & Statistics Authority, Qatar’s construction value-add grew by 6.6% year-on-year in the first half of 2025.
GlobalData expects the industry to grow at an annual average growth rate of 4.6% in 2027-29, supported by investments in construction, energy and infrastructure projects.
https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/15795459/main.jpg