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Investment
in Arriyadh
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There are 15 municipalities divided up into 130 different
districts. In addition there is the Diplomatic Quarter, generally
referred to as the DQ. Here are found the majority of the 65
foreign embassies as well as the headquarters of the ADA and
international organizations. Also in the DQ are many homes for
the staff of these operations and Saudi families, along with a
wide variety of excellent sports facilities, schools and some of
the greenest and most attractive gardens in a capital city that is
well served with shaded parks.
The two city center districts are Al-Bathaa and Al-Dirah.
Besides being the most historic part of Arriyadh. Al-Dirah’s old
buildings are complemented by new structures, which follow the
traditional style. The district is also home to commercial markets
such as the Al-Mu’eiqilia and the capital’s striking Imam Turki
bin Abdullah Mosque, arguably the most impressive of the 4,300
mosques in the city.
Precisely because Arriyadh is a young city, every neighbourhood
boasts kindergartens as well as primary and secondary schools.
Outside of high summer, whenever there are break times during
the school day, the predominant sound of the city becomes the
excited cries of children at play.
The cost of living has been increasing in recent years,
principally for housing, food and beverages. The first reflects
excess demand over supply, while the last two reflect the
international rise in the cost of foodstuffs, because of price hikes
in commodities such as grains. However the cost of clothing,
education and health has risen less than a percentage point and
telecommunications by only 1.1 percent.
Some 34 per cent of the population in Arriyadh is under the
age of 15. The total employed labor force in the city is now in
excess of 2.35 million, of whom almost a million are Saudis,
including 164,000 females. In 2011, 260,000 locals were employed
in the private sector, while just over 84,000 were registered as
unemployed. However this needs to be set against the fact that
more than two million non-Saudis are working in the capital’s
private sector. The Nitaqat program, to give to Saudi nationals
jobs in targeted business areas that were formerly done by
expatriates, therefore appears to be having an effect in Arriyadh.
The Saudi education system has long offered both sexes the
same high-quality schooling. The role of Saudi women in society
and indeed in the work force, has been changing in recent years,
though unemployment, especially among young females remains
high. Despite the fact that many are employed in all-female
surroundings, such as fashion stores or retail bank branches
dedicated for the exclusive use of women, there is a growing
cadre of female entrepreneurs, academics, teachers, medical staff,
finance professionals and technologists. The King’s advisory
council, the Shoura now has 30 women members and in this
year’s elections to municipal councils, women will be both voting
and standing for office.
The Riyadh Chamber of Commerce and Industry has a ladies’
section with 3,000 members. Within the rules of the Chamber,
there is nothing to stop a woman being elected its overall
president.
Arriyadh - City with World-Class Planning
Since it was set up in 1974, the Arriyadh Development
Authority has almost invariably sat at the heart of everything
that has happened in the Saudi capital. The executive arm of the
High Commission for the Development of Arriyadh, the ADA
has faced the constant challenge of keeping the city functioning,
even as it worked to oversee its rapid economic growth and
physical expansion. In 2013, its responsibilities were extended to
include the Arriyadh Region, the second largest in area after the
Eastern Region and second largest in population after Makkah
Region. Arriyadh is the Kingdom’s leading agricultural area,
accounting for some 35 percent of all farming output.
The ability for the ADA’s planners to work on an altogether
larger canvas, stretching for over 400,000 square kilometers,
means that the blueprint for the expansion of the capital can
be more easily linked to areas not yet zoned for growth and
experience can also be applied to the numerous and growing
towns in the region.
From its earliest days, Arriyadh has been a vigorous entrepot
center, exporting its own and its administrative region’s goods
and produce, while importing and distributing merchandise from
outside the region. Arriyadh, which is 390 kilometers from the
Arabian Gulf coast as the crow flies, already has a port: The
Arriyadh Dry Port to the east of the city center stretches over
approaching a million square meters, with six large warehouses.
It can already handle 300,000 containers a year and this capacity
is now being increased. In 2012 the port handled over four
million tons of goods.
Sited at the end of the 556 kilometer freight line to Dammam
and Al-Ahsa in Eastern Province, the Dry Port has full
customs clearance facilities. TIR sealed containers can therefore
be transhipped at Dammam to and from waiting flatbed
railcars with the minimum of fuss and maximum speed. The
International Finance Corporation has ranked Saudi Arabia 18th