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Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) has announced the launch of a pair of new companies set up to develop large projects close to the country's two holy mosques.
Rou’a Al Haram has been set up to develop an 854,000 square metre site near to the Grand Mosque in Makkah and Roua'a Al Madinah will develop a 1.3 million square metre site close to the Prophet's Mosque in Madinah, PIF said in a pair of press announcements.
Plans for the Rou’a Al Haram includes 15 new buildings that will house 70,000 new hotel rooms, 9,000 new homes and 360,000 square metres of commercial and prayer space. The site will be built just over 1.4 kilometres away from the Holy Kaaba, the statement said, and would increase capacity for the number of visiting worshippers by more than 400,000.
Construction work is due to start on site next year, with the first phase complete by 2024, it said. It added that the development would contribute around 8 billion Saudi riyals ($2.13 billion) to the kingdom's gross domestic product per year, with 160,000 jobs being created by 2030.
Roua'a Al Madinah, meanwhile, will oversee construction on a site about 1km east of the Prophet's Mosque.
It will be made up of 80,000 hotel rooms, 500 new homes and will increase capacity by up to 200,000 worshippers per day. It could contribute up to 7 billion Saudi riyals in economic activity each year, PIF said, with up to 200,000 new jobs created.
Construction on this site is also due to start next year, with phase one complete by 2023, PIF said. It did not provide details on how either scheme would be financed.
The announcements follow on from the establishment of two other large companies by PIF within the past fortnight. On September 27, the state-owned wealth fund announced it was setting up a company to oversee an 18 billion Saudi riyal project to develop a five million square metre site which will be known as New Jeddah Downtown.
It said the seafront site would contain over 12,000 new homes and entertainment, retail, commercial and hospitality areas. It will provide 36,000 jobs and be developed over 10 years, the state-owned wealth fund said.
On September 20, it also launched an entertainment investment arm with an initial capital of 10 billion Saudi riyals to invest in theme parks and other entertainment projects.
PIF also has a plan to develop up to 50 islands off the Red Sea coast into a major tourism resort. A report by AFP, quoting a Saudi official, stated that Virgin founder Richard Branson is set to invest in the project.
Saudi Arabia's National Transformation Plan, which was published last year but is currently under review, set some ambitious targets for boosting religious and heritage tourism across the kingdom by 2020. It is looking to increase the number of tourists visiting the kingdom to nearly 82 million people, a rise of 27 percent between 2015 and 2020. It is also looking to grow annual tourism spending by 67 percent to 174.8 billion Saudi riyals.
© Zawya 2017
Rou’a Al Haram has been set up to develop an 854,000 square metre site near to the Grand Mosque in Makkah and Roua'a Al Madinah will develop a 1.3 million square metre site close to the Prophet's Mosque in Madinah, PIF said in a pair of press announcements.
Plans for the Rou’a Al Haram includes 15 new buildings that will house 70,000 new hotel rooms, 9,000 new homes and 360,000 square metres of commercial and prayer space. The site will be built just over 1.4 kilometres away from the Holy Kaaba, the statement said, and would increase capacity for the number of visiting worshippers by more than 400,000.
Construction work is due to start on site next year, with the first phase complete by 2024, it said. It added that the development would contribute around 8 billion Saudi riyals ($2.13 billion) to the kingdom's gross domestic product per year, with 160,000 jobs being created by 2030.
Roua'a Al Madinah, meanwhile, will oversee construction on a site about 1km east of the Prophet's Mosque.
It will be made up of 80,000 hotel rooms, 500 new homes and will increase capacity by up to 200,000 worshippers per day. It could contribute up to 7 billion Saudi riyals in economic activity each year, PIF said, with up to 200,000 new jobs created.
Construction on this site is also due to start next year, with phase one complete by 2023, PIF said. It did not provide details on how either scheme would be financed.
The announcements follow on from the establishment of two other large companies by PIF within the past fortnight. On September 27, the state-owned wealth fund announced it was setting up a company to oversee an 18 billion Saudi riyal project to develop a five million square metre site which will be known as New Jeddah Downtown.
It said the seafront site would contain over 12,000 new homes and entertainment, retail, commercial and hospitality areas. It will provide 36,000 jobs and be developed over 10 years, the state-owned wealth fund said.
On September 20, it also launched an entertainment investment arm with an initial capital of 10 billion Saudi riyals to invest in theme parks and other entertainment projects.
PIF also has a plan to develop up to 50 islands off the Red Sea coast into a major tourism resort. A report by AFP, quoting a Saudi official, stated that Virgin founder Richard Branson is set to invest in the project.
Saudi Arabia's National Transformation Plan, which was published last year but is currently under review, set some ambitious targets for boosting religious and heritage tourism across the kingdom by 2020. It is looking to increase the number of tourists visiting the kingdom to nearly 82 million people, a rise of 27 percent between 2015 and 2020. It is also looking to grow annual tourism spending by 67 percent to 174.8 billion Saudi riyals.
© Zawya 2017
