meet saudiarabia NEW DEVELOPMENTS
A bold direction Driven by a desire to support economic growth and
investment, Saudi Arabia is using its oil wealth to build modern cities that will become international business hubs
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While the modern kingdom was established in 1932, a bullish strategy for encouraging economic growth and investment has earned Saudi Arabia a reputation as a game-changer, not only in the Middle East, but the world over. The transformation of the country, over a
relatively short time, has been simply incred- ible and the kingdom now leads the way when it comes to infrastructure development in the region. Riding high on the oil boom, SAR1.4 trillion (US$373 billion) is reportedly committed to new developments up to 2015, with the ultimate goal of moving the country away from its reliance on petro-chemicals to prepare it for a more diverse economic future. From tourism to industrial production,
everywhere you look there is evidence of a country that is undergoing change. There are complete new cities emerging from the desert, its sea ports and airports are undergoing major expansion and there is a huge invest- ment in a state-of-the-art railway network. Indeed, Saudi Arabia is preparing for
and investing in its own future. During the 2012 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Qatar, Saudi Arabia announced it intends to meet a third of its electricity demand from solar power by 2032. This is a young country with big ideas
and money to pay for them. It plans to create five million new jobs by 2020. With around 45 percent of Saudi Arabian citizens aged under 15 and two-thirds under 30, it comes as no surprise that there is heavy investment in job creation and education. Two years ago, HRH King Abdullah bin
Abdulaziz Al Saud pledged an extra SAR487.5 billion (US$130 billion) of new spending on national housing and social welfare devel- opment for the country’s growing popu- lation, which reached 28 million in 2012, according to the World Bank (around five million Saudi residents are foreign workers). That massive economic injection has
attracted international companies keen to be involved in the construction boom or simply seeking to become part of a thriving economy while much of the world still struggles economically post-recession. Wealth, or rather the lack of it, is not an
issue for the kingdom, which accounts for almost 18 percent of the world’s proven oil reserves, especially considering that the price per barrel of crude oil has quadru- pled in value during the past ten years. During 2012, Saudi Arabia increased
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