Saudi Arabia’s real estate, infrastructure spending now at $1.1t as more ‘giga-projects’ added

Saudi Arabia’s real estate, infrastructure spending now at $1.1t as more ‘giga-projects’ added

Dubai: Saudi Arabia’s investments into real estate and infrastructure projects since launching the ‘National Transformation Plan’ in 2016 has crossed the $1 trillion mark, and is now at $1.1 trillion. And the number of ‘giga’ projects keep getting added to, with the kingdom recently confirming ‘The Line’ as part of its already massive NEOM development. “We are currently tracking 15 giga projects in various phases of construction around the Kingdom, many of which are new standalone super-cities in their own right,” said Harmen de Jong, Partner – Head of Real Estate Strategy & Consulting, Saudi Arabia. NEOM still is the biggest of the lot, and will house 9 million residents on completion across an estimated 300,000 new homes. “Just $7.5 billion of sub-projects have been commissioned thus far, with construction progress of this tranche of projects standing at 29 per cent,” said de Jong. Saudi Arabia is building over 555,000 residential units, more than 275,000 hotel keys, and 4.3 million square metres of new retail space by 2030. Plus, there will be over 6.1 million square metres of additional office space. "The planned construction will easily make Saudi Arabia the largest construction site the world has ever known," said Durrani.