A new report by real estate consultancy Knight Frank pegs the total value of giga projects launched by Saudi Arabia under its Vision 2030 economic diversification programme at $1.25 trillion.

The report titled ‘Saudi Arabia’s Construction Landscape - H1 2024’ observed that the new super-cities spawned by giga projects are transforming the Kingdom's urban landscape.

Amar Hussain - Associate Partner, Research, ME, said: “With a value of over $1.25 trillion launched but not yet delivered, giga projects are undoubtedly transforming the Kingdom's urban landscape. Arguably one of, if not the most expansive, real estate development programmes ever seen in the world is gathering pace in Saudi Arabia as the 2030 deadline nears to realise Vision 2030.”

Hussain said the planned volume of residential units within the country has risen to 660,000 units, an increase of 30 percent in the last 12 months while the office pipeline is steady at 6 million square metres (sqm).

“In the commercial market, plans are currently underway for 5.3 million sqm of retail space and an additional 320,000 hotel rooms, which will contribute to Saudi Arabia's objective of growing the population to 40 million and accommodating 150 million visitors by 2030. This figure has increased from approximately 106 million visitors last year, including 27 million international visitors, a 62 percent increase from the previous year”.

According to Knight Frank's analysis, there are currently 25 giga projects that are at various phases of construction around the Kingdom. The Western part tops the table with real estate development plan worth $692 billion (or 55 percent of the $ 1.25 trillion development plan) and commissioned projects worth $146 billion, followed by Riyadh province with a $229 billon real estate development plan and $75 billion worth of commissioned projects.

The development plan for the rest of the provinces combined totals $14.3 billion with projects yet to be commissioned, according to the report.

(Editing by Anoop Menon) (anoop.menon@lseg.com)

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