Man with a plan

Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Minister for Town Planning Dr Abdulrahman Al Shaikh discusses the Kingdom’s National Spatial Strategy, The economic cities and offers advice to foreign companies looking to enter the market.

What is KSA’s Spatial Strategy?

The Kingdom is very big, about eight times the size of the UK – it’s almost like a continent. With this vast area and a rapidly increasing population a national spatial strategy is essential or you cannot make all the right strategic decisions to control developments, the population and commercial activities, or direct them to the right places. So this national strategic plan was approved by royal decree about 15 years ago to create balanced development between regions, and within regions. It suggests which cities should be developed first and which resources devoted where.

And what is the result of this strategy?

Based on the study, which we spent about ten years doing, the Kingdom was divided into 13 provinces, each with its own capital city and surrounding secondary cities. In each province we encourage industries that will utilise the local characteristics or resources of the area, some areas we promote agriculture, some mining industries and others petrochemicals industries. Following on from that we encourage establishing related downstream industries to allow the most efficient use of our resources. This is the way it works, but the implementation takes a very long time and we are facing many challenges.

What is the biggest challenge?

The increase in population is a major challenge because we are now almost 26 million people with a population growth of something like 8% per annum. This creates uncontrolled expansions to cities and rapid growth of urban centres.

Do the six economic cities fit into the spatial plan?

The economic cities came later and we had to revise the spatial plan to fit them in. One important area of study was the effect these huge economic cities may have on neighbouring areas. We didn’t want to create a vacuum with the new cities pulling everybody out of the market. This was the main concern of the government and so based on our studies we suggested where the economic cities could be integrated. So there’ll be no gaps or huge differences between them, in fact they’ll help existing cities create more opportunities.

Are these economic cities needed?

Yes, these came with a strategic objective. The economic cities aim to create economic diversification and attract foreign investors and experts. We think it will provide valuable opportunities for securing a variety of modern, technical and commercial industries and help us move away from being an oil based economy. King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) is already attracting billions of dollars from outside the Kingdom.

Will all six economic cities be built?

Yes. They have been well planned by our foreign investment agencies, there are comprehensive feasibility studies, they have been approved by the higher authorities and the major component of its success is interest from foreign investors. Each city has its own unique character based on local resources. For example, in Jizan they are using aluminium industries as the core and in Hail they are using phosphate and other mines to form the core.

Do Jubail and Yanbu industrial cities set a good example for how a city can be built around industry?

Absolutely. Jubail and Yanbu are very successful stories. When they were started in the 1980s everybody was saying ‘these people are crazy, don’t bother doing it’ – everybody was gambling about its failure and now everybody is talking about its success. It proved to be the right decision at the right time. I know there are some people who have their doubts about the success of the economic cities, but this is the nature of people. I believe they will prevail, because the Kingdom’s economy and resources are sound and if it is the will of the government to support it, then it will go on. It is definitely benefiting from the experience of Jubail and Yanbu, but rather than being based around petrochemicals, each city has its own own core industry.

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