Top 13 infrastructure projects, regulations in 2017

Last week, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced that Saudi Arabia’s total spending  is likely to exceed SAR 1.1 trillion in 2018.

“The announcement of the largest government spending program in the Kingdom’s history is a strong indication of the success of the efforts to improve public financial management, despite the significant decline in oil prices from previous years,” Prince Mohammed said following the announcement of the 2018 budget.

While the government continued investing in developing several infrastructure-related projects, the Center for International Communication recently tweeted the major infrastructure achievements of 2017. Argaam has compiled a list of those projects below.

Airports

1) Building the King Khaled Airport City in Riyadh.

2) Building the King Abdulaziz Airport City in Jeddah.

Hajj Season

3) Building the longest pedestrian road in the world – 25 km long, 100 meters wide including essential amenities on both sides of the road.

4) Increasing the number of sprinklers, planted trees, drinking water facilities and the addition of 200 LED lighting units.

5) Preparing regular slaughterhouses to receive more than 800,000 ‘udhyas’.

Waterfronts

Building 3 waterfronts with a total length of 13 kilometers as follows.

6) The Khobar waterfront.

7) The waterfront project in Aseer.

8) The waterfront project has been opened recently by the Jeddah Governorate Municipality.

9) Building the first comprehensive administrative model center which includes all governmental entities. It is the first administrative center in the Al Sulary neighborhood in Riyadh.

Import and Exports

10) Average time for custom clearance: less than 48 hours.

11) Reducing the number of documents required for importing from 12 documents to 2 and the documents required for exporting was reduced from 9 to 2.

12) Submitting import-related documents in now completely automatic.

13) Activating the approved economic operator (the least risky importer/exporter) for 6 companies. The aim is to further accelerate import and export procedure.