Riyadh will spend $74bn to overhaul the city’s infrastructure and roadworks.
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Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh Development Authority (RDA) has approved a comprehensive $74bn plan to overhaul infrastructure and road-works in the Kingdom’s capital city.
According to a news report by Arab News, the project will include the building of a ring road around the city, while keeping wide, open areas in the city centre.
“The project will bring about a facelift of downtown Riyadh and make it an outstanding historic, administrative, economic and cultural centre in the Kingdom,” said Ibrahim Al-Sultan, a member of the RDA and head of its centre for projects and planning.
Al Sultan added that the plan also included the development of housing projects in the city centre and pedestrian pathways that would enhance the look of the city and make it more comfortable for citizens and residents.
“The central region will have three main railway lines and several bus routes,” he said. It will also house the main railway station, which will be part of the city’s public transport system.
“We’ll create a new cultural, heritage and tourism route, beginning from the King Abdul Aziz Historical Centre to the Government Palace (Qasr Al-Hukm),” the official said.
Furthermore, Al Sultan said that 3,088 development projects worth a total of $74bn were being implemented in different parts of the Riyadh region. As many as 62 agencies have been authorised to follow up on the implementation of these projects.
These agencies will also be tasked with generating proposals for the development of the region and ways to remove the obstacles that the developments will face. They will report directly to the governor, he explained.