RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Finance has signed a number of financing agreements with several local banks, amounting to SR25 billion ($6.6 billion) to execute infrastructure projects by the National Debt Management Center. 

The infrastructure projects are scheduled to start in 2023 and 2024, according to a statement. 

In line with Saudi Vision 2030, this comes as part of the ministry’s aim towards enabling and supporting strategic infrastructure projects. 

According to global real estate consultancy Knight Frank, the Kingdom is on its way to becoming the world’s biggest construction site with a total investment of SR4.13 trillion in infrastructure and real estate projects.

The real estate firm projected that Riyadh’s population will reach 17 million by 2030, up from about 7.5 million today. The city has unveiled real estate projects worth $104 billion since the Kingdom’s National Transformation Plan launched in 2016.

“Vision 2030 has lit the embers of excitement across the Kingdom, and with NEOM positioned as a crown jewel in the transformative plans, people are eager to be part of history,” Faisal Durrani, partner and head of Middle East research, Knight Frank, previously told Arab News. 

Saudi Arabia will easily become the largest construction site in history, with planned construction projects in the Kingdom being over 555,000 residential units, over 275,000 hotel keys, over 4.3 million sq. m of retail space, and over 6.1 million sq. m of office space, Durrani said.

In July, Saudi Arabia’s minister of environment, water and agriculture announced the allocation of SR105 billion for water projects within the five-year capital portfolio of the environment, water and agriculture system.

The five-year capital portfolio includes 1,335 projects.