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Saudi Arabia looks to future and Vision 2040

5 October 2023

Commentary
Colin Foreman
Editor

Read the October 2023 edition of MEED Business Review

Saudi Arabia has been making newspaper headlines globally.

On the front pages, it has re-established relations with Iran after China-brokered peace talks earlier this year. More recently, it has been invited to join the Brics group of countries. The kingdom is also a critical component of the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor, and the crown prince has told the US’ Fox News that a deal with Israel is getting closer.

On the back pages, investment in golf and football has meant Saudi Arabia is now a leading player in global sport.

The cooling of political tensions and focus on global sports is supporting the already-buoyant projects market. After several years of planning and delays caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, construction project activity may finally surpass its 2013 peak this year.

The focus for both the sector and Saudi policymakers has firmly turned to delivery.

Concerns have lingered that many of the legacy issues that the construction sector has been wrestling with since the 2014 collapse in oil prices are not being dealt with. But that began to change in 2022, when contractors working on the Riyadh Metro scheme struck a deal to complete the project.

The Jeddah Tower project symbolises the challenges of the past 10 years

Now, with the issue of the tender to complete the world’s tallest tower, Saudi Arabia’s construction sector has reached a watershed moment. As the world’s tallest tower, the 1,000-metre-plus-tall Jeddah Tower project symbolises the challenges of the past 10 years more than anything else.

The restart of the project means Saudi’s construction sector can concentrate on the kingdom’s future and delivering Riyadh’s economic ambitions. 

While the immediate challenge is delivering projects for Vision 2030, work will not stop there. In the Fox News interview, Prince Mohammed bin Salman al-Saud revealed that he will start to shift his attention to Vision 2040, which he plans to launch in 2027 or 2028.

> AGENDA: Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah Tower reaches for new heights

> SKYSCRAPERS: Top 10 tallest towers in the region

> TALL TOWER PLANS: Saudi seeks to escape economic curse of record-breaking towers

MEED's October 2023 special report on Saudi Arabia includes: 

> COMMENT: Riyadh reshapes its global role
> POLITICS: Saudi Arabia looks both east and west
> SPORT: Saudi Arabia’s football vision goes global
> ECONOMY: Riyadh prioritises stability over headline growth
> BANKS: Saudi banks track more modest growth path
> UPSTREAM: Aramco focuses on upstream capacity building
> DOWNSTREAM: Saudi chemical and downstream projects in motion
> POWER: Riyadh rides power projects surge
> WATER: Saudi water projects momentum holds steady
> GIGAPROJECTS: Gigaproject activity enters full swing
> TRANSPORT: Infrastructure projects support Riyadh’s logistics ambitions
> JEDDAH TOWER: Jeddah developer restarts world’s tallest tower

https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/11193787/main.gif
Colin Foreman

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