‘Red Sea Project’ Pumps $20B to Saudi Economy

Business

October 31st, 11:05am

Riyadh- Fatehelrahman Yousif

Local staff and delegates are pictured at the King Abdulaziz Conference Centre in Saudi Arabia's capital Riyadh to attend the Future Investment Initiative (FII) forum on October 29, 2019. (AFP)

Red Sea Development Company CEO John Pagano has pledged to transform the Red Sea coast to a world-class tourist destination. There will be one million employees in the project, receiving 100 million tourists annually by 2030. During the second day of the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh, Pagano said that the Red Sea Project will start receiving the first batch of visitors and tourists by 2022. A total of 70,000 jobs will be secured, 50 hotels will be established in addition to 22 islands and six inland sites, he added. More than 30,000 persons will work there and in airports. This will be achieved through innovation and adopting a technique to serve nature. Further, the entire area will be carbon-neutral, and policies to ban single-use plastics will be set-- landfills will be prohibited on the site. Also, wind and solar energy turbines will be set up to generate renewable energy. On the level of current development works in the Red Sea Project, Pagano said that there will be six resorts in the mountain and desert regions by 2030. Also, an airport to receive the visitors will be established in addition to preparing infrastructure facilities and constructing a residential city to host 35,000 employees with their families. He noted that the Public Investment Fund is showing support as a shareholder partner, as well as the capital markets. Pagano vowed to partner with the private sector in the development.

from Asharq AL-awsat https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/1970086/%E2%80%98red-sea-project%E2%80%99-pumps-20b-saudi-economy