Pages

Saturday 21 March 2015

Saudi Arabia Unveils Design For £67BILLION Megacity In The Desert - The Size of Washington DC To Be Built [Photos+Video]

Covering 70 square miles, the metropolis costs £67 billion ($100 billion) and will reinvigorate the country
Saudi Arabia is pushing ahead with plans to complete building work on a new megacity in the desert.The King Abdullah Economic City, or KAEC (pronounced 'cake'), will be slightly larger than Washington DC and home to pproximately two million residents.Covering 70 square miles, the metropolis is costing £67 billion ($100 billion) and lies 100km from Jeddah, the commercial hub of the kingdom, near the Red Sea.

KAEC is one of four new cities being built to diversify an economy that is overly dependent on oil. Already it has its own website showing plans, maps and including details on how to invest.
Fadi Al-Rasheed, the managing director of Emaar Economic City, the publicly traded Saudi company that runs the entire KAEC project, told the BBC:

Only 15 per cent has been developed, as public facilities and residential areas are still under construction
Only 15 per cent has been developed, as public facilities and residential areas are still under construction
KAEC has its own website showing plans for the city, including details on how to invest in its growth
KAEC has its own website showing plans for the city, including details on how to invest in its growth

'We're building with the 65 per cent of the population who are under 30 in mind,' he explains. 'And we have almost 200,000 Saudis studying abroad. Inevitably they are going to change things when they come back.'
Given that more women than men graduate from university, it is likely the Saudi landscape will shift over the coming years in more ways that one. 
Cranes stand beside new high rise buildings under construction in the King Abdullah financial district of Riyadh
Cranes stand beside new high rise buildings under construction in the King Abdullah financial district of Riyadh

There are 90 km of roads in use in KAEC but, under present deeply held religious beliefs prohibiting it, no women in the country are able to drive on them.
The city's future hinges on many things including the complex relationships between health, education, housing and employment requirements and infrastructure. 
It will also open up transport links around the kingdom and internationally.
A group look at a model of the planned city which aims to create one of the world's largest ports
A group look at a model of the planned city which aims to create one of the world's largest ports

'We aim to create one of the world's largest ports,' Rayan Bukhari, a young manager at the King Abdullah port told the BBC.
'We're not competing with Jeddah's Islamic port - but we are going to take business away from Jebel Ali in Dubai. That's because of our quicker, more automated offloading and customs procedure.'
The late King Abdullah had pinned his hopes for his country's future on the innovative city as oil runs out
The late King Abdullah had pinned his hopes for his country's future on the innovative city as oil runs out

No comments:

Post a Comment