Details of Qiddiya, one of five giga projects within Saudi Arabia, were revealed earlier this month.
Qiddiya’s first development will be Qiddiya City, a city wholly dedicated to play built around the themes of entertainment, sports and culture.
Located around 40 minutes from the centre of the kingdom’s capital city of Riyadh, it overlooks the cliffs of the Tuwaiq mountains.
Qiddiya City will include a gaming and esports district, a speed park track, golf courses, a water theme park, and Six Flags Qiddiya. The city will also feature a multipurpose stadium.
Construction of Qiddiya City is progressing with contracts worth SAR10 billion already awarded.
With 60,000 buildings in an overall area of 360 sq km, it will eventually host over 600,000 residents.
Qiddiya City is expected to create over 325,000 job opportunities, generating a nominal GDP of SAR135 billion per annum.
The new development is expected to attract around 48 million visits per year.
The urban design for the city of Qiddiya and Qiddiya’s brand were revealed by Mohammad bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, the Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia and the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Qiddiya Investment Company (QIC).
No timelines have been communicated thus far, but a statement from Qiddiya said that some of the experiences in the city “will be launched in the coming months.”
Apart from Qiddiya, the other designated giga projects within the kingdom include Neom, Red Sea, Diriyah and Roshn.
Qiddiya is a major component of the Saudi Vision 2030 and also Riyadh’s plans to position itself as a global financial powerhouse.
As part of its development plans, Riyadh plans to build a new airport. The new King Salman International airport. It is expected to become one of the world’s largest airports covering an area of approximately 57 sq km, allowing for six parallel runways. It will include the existing terminals named after King Khalid. The airport aims to accommodate up to 120 million travellers by 2030.
Also earlier this year, details of The New Murabba project located in the north-west of Riyadh, due to be completed by 2030, were revealed. Spread over an area of 19 sq km, the project will offer over 25 million sqm of floor area, featuring more than 104,000 residential units, 9,000 hotel rooms, and over 980,000 sqm of retail space, as well as 1.4 million sqm of office space, 620,000 sqm of leisure assets, and 1.8 million sqm of space dedicated to community facilities.
(Image: Supplied by Qiddiya)