Qiddiya to stay on the leading edge of changes in the Saudi Arabia — CEO

A new entertainment city that Saudi Arabia has started building southwest of the capital is seeking a broad range of financing from local and international sources, the project’s chief executive said in an interview.

Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman and Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman, deputy premier and minister of defense, attended the ground-breaking ceremony on Saturday of the vast resort being built on a 334 sq km (8,400-acre) site, making it 2-1/2 times the size of Disney World.

Qiddiya is one of three mega-projects managed by the Kingdom’s main sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), as part of ambitious reforms aimed at overhauling the economy of the world’s top oil exporter and providing jobs for an overwhelmingly young population.

The other two initiatives are NEOM — a $500 billion business and industrial zone — and the Red Sea project, which includes a nature reserve, diving in coral reefs and heritage sites on about 50 islands.

Qiddiya CEO Michael Reininger said the PIF’s contribution would probably exceed 50 percent, with the rest likely financed through bonds, direct investment and other tools.

“Perhaps all at the same (time). All of those financial strategies are what we’re working on every day,” he said.

Qiddiya will include a Six Flags theme park and other attractions like water parks and motor sports. There will also be sports training, arts and cultural events, and vacation homes.

Already some 50 people are directly employed by Qiddiya, with hundreds more contracted as local suppliers and global advisers. Those numbers are expected to reach 55,000 when the first phase opens in 2022.

An official spokesman said Qiddiya expects to develop 34 sq km of land and attract 1.5 million visitors annually by then.

“Capturing as much of (those expenditures) as I possibly can is the objective and at the same time creating a bigger pie so that I can get the disproportionate share of that bigger pie that we create at the same time,” Reininger said.

He said Qiddiya would stay “on the leading edge” of changes in the Kingdom.

“We’re not just going to go around the world, find things and copy them. We’re going to innovate and we’re going to stay ahead of the curve.”

Reininger, an American who joined Qiddiya last month, previously worked on a high-speed rail system in Florida, oversaw large-scale resort developments for the Walt Disney Company, and was a senior executive at engineering firm AECOM.

“It’s a giant market, there’s not a lot of competition, there’s a clear opportunity. That’s the kind of thing you want to invest in,” he said.

“Today, we invite investors, creators, and operators from around the world to explore what a one-of-a-kind project like Qiddiya has to offer,” Reininger told government officials, foreign dignitaries and businessmen gathered in a temporary open-air auditorium for the ground-breaking ceremony on Saturday.

“We will seek the best to help us, as we invent a new entertainment experience for all residents and visitors to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”