Building work has begun on Saudi Arabia‘s new £40billion New Murabba city, with the groundwork underway for the iconic cube-shaped scheme.
New Murabba Development Company says some four million cubic metres of material has already been excavated for the project, which forms part of the Saudi kingdom’s “Vision 2030” plans.
Hailed as Riyadh’s new capital, New Murabba was unveiled in February 2023 as a downtown city district with a price tag estimated by Knight Frank at £40bn (US$50bn).
The company has said the scheme forms part of £1.04trillion (US$1.3tn) worth of infrastructure and real estate projects Saudi Arabia has unveiled since 2016.
New Murabba is one project among several that the country is pursuing as it seeks to shift its economy away from a reliance on fossil fuels.
New Murabba CEO Michael Dyke has trumpeted the scheme as offering numerous investment opportunities for global investors seeking to engage with emerging markets.
Designs for the ambitious project boast more than 80 entertainment and culture venues, an immersive theatre, a new landmark called The Mukaab and a museum. It is due to be completed by 2030.
Spread across 12 square miles, the scheme includes The Mukaab landmark, which if built will be one of the largest built structures in the world, measuring 400m by 400m by 400m.
The company developing the scheme say this is large enough to contain 20 Empire State buildings and will transform the horizon of Riyadh. The Mukaab landmark’s design also features a tower sat on a spiral base set amid two million square metres of floor space.
New Murabba Development Company, which is chaired by Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, recently promoted the scheme at the MIPIM 2024 event in Cannes, France, where global players in the property development sector rub shoulders with international investors.
Mr Dyke has described the vision behind New Murabba as creating a “transformative, vibrant, and sustainable” downtown which will set new standards for urban development and contribute to the city’s development.
Saudi Arabia aims to double the size and population of its capital city with investments of £644bn (US$800bn) under its 2030 plan to modernise the Middle East country. If built on time and on schedule, New Murabba will be one showcase among many at the Expo world fair.
Last year, Riyadh won the right to host Expo 2030, beating Busan in South Korea and Rome. Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud is quoted by Reuters as saying at the time: “We had a fantastic team of ministers going around the world, engaging our counterparts in a very, very active way to understand what they expected, what they were looking for and what we should deliver in order to gain their trust.”
Critics have accused Prince Mohammed of using the event to improve his country’s image after the murder in 2018 of prominent Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Some Western leaders believe his death was ordered by the Crown Prince.
