Image: Saudi Projects
Qiddiya to be built in the middle of the desert on a spectacular breakaway edge. Gestern wurde der Masterplan vorgestellt
"Change of epoch" was a term that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman al-Saud liked to hear. And in addition a lot of verbal gobbledegook with Giga in front of it, mind you not Mega but Giga. The construction projects that are supposed to provide Saudi Arabia with a grandiose future are all "Gigaprojects". They lure architects, planners and entrepreneurs from the West as only the russellers do with billion-dollar prospects.
Bei den Investoren ist das noch nicht ganz so klar. And the question of whether Saudi Arabia has such immense wealth that it can pay for the mega-projects at home, Trump’s insane billion-dollar checks, plus the arms orders from other Western countries, the new billion-dollar rough Middle East peace plan, the support for Egypt and the billions it has to raise elsewhere in the region, and not least for the costly Yemen war, is just one among many other questions related to Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030.
The sky above the desert: Vision 2030
It is likely that Vision 2030 has saved the crown prince from having to vacate his post because of the Khashoggi death and from studying the $450 million portrait of the savior of the world on his $500 million yacht. This is also multi-megalo-gaga, with a melancholic note, because someone was suddenly torn out of his heaven. But with world leaders Trump and Putin also interested in this money heaven, Mohammed bin Salman al-Saud is for now "safe".
Yesterday the master plan for the gigaproject Qiddiya was presented. A gigantic entertainment city is planned, 45 kilometers from the capital Riyadh, 40 minutes away by car. With an area of 334 square kilometers, the new entertainment city will be "Capital for entertainment, sports and art" Disney World in Florida (110 km2) bei weitem ubertreffen.
Qiddiya is to set new global standards, it was said yesterday, when the Qiddiya Investment Company presented the project. Luxurious hotels, apartments and condominiums with breathtaking views from the edge of Jebel Tuwaiq, spectacular racetracks, spectacular golf courses, spectacular parks, spectacular sports facilities, spectacular gastronomy (without alcohol), a cinema and a bar "The world’s most scariest rides" – probably means u.a. a kind of giga-water slide, as this series of pictures vaguely suggests. On this short video you can get an idea how the entertainment future city should look like.
"It’s time for fun"
"It’s time to have fun", begins the presentation of the project on the website qiddiya.com. The survey also reveals that there is more at stake, namely the question of what future Saudi Arabia has in store for its young people: two-thirds, 66, "of the rapidly growing Saudi Arabian population" are under 35 years old. The young are one of the main target groups of the project.
While it is also about international tourism, to attract investors. Above all, the project is to be completed on "End of the world" attract local and regional tourists, according to a report in the leading Arab News:
The demographics, which show how large the share of youth is, will be the main contributor to the success of Qiddiya. Therefore, the project aims to satisfy the need for relaxation as well as social and cultural needs.
Arab News
The cost of the project, which is scheduled for completion by 2035, is not yet clear. Last year’s estimates put the cost of infrastructure alone at $8 billion. This is an unreliable rough estimate for a project of this size.
It is interesting how simple the financing is presented in contrast. The 30 billion dollars that Saudis allegedly spend as tourists abroad every year, which they could at least partially spend at home in the future, is taken as a rough guide in their self-promotion. For investors follows the indication that the financing is secured by the state fund Pif (Pif, which fits onomatopoeically well to the project, heibt ausgeschrieben: Public Investment Fund (PIF) of Saudi Arabia).
From 2030 onwards, 12 million visitors are expected for the entertainment sector, 12 million for the shopping sector and 2 million for the hotel sector, plus payments for a certainly not cheap 11 million visitors.000 apartments or apartments to be completed by 2030.
And last but not least, the future promise is that 57.000 new jobs will be created, as well as new opportunities for business in the private sector.
This is quite obviously a spat capitalist dream in a giant sandbox, to put it somewhat casually. Whether the youth will let such elite projects distract them from problems that, apart from the solvent elite, make them feel insecure – 57.000 jobs, which are not even secure, could not really be much in comparison with the number of young people who enter the labor market every year.
And the Islamists?
Nor was the project allowed to meet with resistance in conservative or fundamentalist religious circles. Even if it has been reported recently that even well-known, dyed-in-the-wool fundamentalist preachers who have ideological ties to Muslim Brotherhood members are signaling that they are aligning themselves with the crown prince’s course, this could not be set in stone. Nor was the control of the Saudi leadership over the milieu from which radical currents arise.
As soon as unexpected difficulties arise, which is not excluded in view of the volatile political situation in the region, the influence of the political Islamists was allowed to show itself again in a different way. Even now, based on school education alone, it probably cannot be underestimated that the well-entrenched religious establishment has an influence on the youth.
The fact that the gigaprojects do not address the gigantic task of bringing the education of the next generations up to a level that will later be reflected in newly published patents and in the training of new professions in a new society shows how old-fashioned the new plans basically are. It is worth noting that not a word is said about the role of women in Saudi Arabia’s future.