Prince Abdulaziz Bin Mousaed Economic City is a proposed planned city in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is reportedly looking to boost its involvement in industries beyond petroleum exporting. The economic cities that have been planned will include housing and living quarters, industry jobs, and entertainment for their residents and will be built to accommodate as many as 2,000,000 people.
The Vision
The idea of this city project goes back to 2006, when the then-King of Saudi Arabia Abdullah bin Abdulaziz visited the province of Ha’il and ordered the construction and development of a major economic city in it to be named after Ha’il's first Saudi prince, the late Prince Abdulaziz bin Mousaed. The city's purpose is to develop and refurbish the status of Ha’il as a major economic center and entertainment hub. The project also aims at providing around 30,000 new job opportunities for the Saudi young youth.
Location and Area
Situated in Ha’il in the northern part of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia between Aljouf, Tabok, Madina and Al Qassim regions, the SAR30bn Prince Abdulaziz bin Mousaed economic city was originally planned to span 156 million square meters. In 2014, however, the Saudi Arabian Economic Cities Authority has announced the cancellation of the contract that has been made with the Kuwait-based Al Mal Capital company to develop the city and that the whole city plan has been revised. As a result of that, some major changes have taken place in the city's plan; the most notable change happened in the project's planned area which has been reduced by 85% to be 18 million square meters. According to the comments of the director of ECA, such changes took places to make the project more realistic.
The Offered Services
Prince Abdulaziz Bin Mousaed Economic City will consist of five major sections that aim at meeting the needs of the investors from the different economic sectors and industries through providing high-end educational, agricultural, industrial, transportation and administrational services as well as luxurious entertainment facilities and amenities. These services will be provided through the following five main sections of the city:
1) Agricultural Zone
This section aims at making good use of Ha’il's agricultural nature. Ha’il is known for its abundance of agricultural crops and it contributes a large percentage of the kingdom's production of key crops like potatoes, wheat, corn and dates. In addition to that, the zone is rich with mineral resources which will help even more in shaping it as a major investment attraction. The zone will include also include an advanced center for agricultural researches and studies to help develop and improve the zone's productivity in terms of both quality and quantity.
2) Residential district
With estimated investments that exceed $2.5bn, the residential section of the Prince Abdulaziz bin Mousaed economic city will be a major point of interest for both the investors and the residents of the province as it was planned to comprise 30,000 residential units with the aim of housing 140,000 people.
3) Resorts’ Zone
Due to the area's abundance of historical and cultural sites and the environment that is perfect for hosting hunting seasons, a part of the city will be dedicated for providing entertainment services and facilities to hundreds of thousands of tourists and visitors each year.
As Ha’il represents a meeting point for multiple trade routes, the city will include an international airport, a dry port, a high-end logistics center and a fully serviced station for the road travelers whose number is estimated to be 2.3 million travelers per year with roads’ network that will span 3300 kilometers.
Infrastructure Works
The budget of the infrastructure works of Prince Abdulaziz bin Mousaed economic city exceeds $1.6bn. The services will not only aim at meeting the needs of the residents and visitors of the city, but also it will help reduce the load on the services networks of Hail
