Jeddah
From The Report: Saudi Arabia 2016
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Spurred by rapid population growth and mounting public and private investment, Jeddah – Saudi Arabia’s second-largest city – is on the rise. Since the early 1990s the population of its urban area has more than doubled, reaching 4.1m residents as of the end of 2015. While this growth has slowed somewhat over the past half decade, from a high of 3.4% in 2011 to 2.6% in 2015, rising economic uncertainty across much of the Gulf and wider Middle East has driven increased investment in Jeddah over the same period. Indeed, as of January 2016, more than 850 development projects worth a combined SR74bn ($19.7bn) were under way across the municipal region, including state-led initiatives aimed at upgrading and expanding transport infrastructure, power and sewage networks, and education provision.

This chapter contains interviews with Mazen Batterjee, Vice-Chairman, Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry; and Hussein S Al Amoudi, Chairman, Shamayel United Development Company.

Articles from this Chapter

Overview

Centre by the sea: The logistical demands of a growing metropolitan area are bringing fresh opportunity
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Spurred by rapid population growth and mounting public and private investment, Jeddah – Saudi Arabia’s second-largest city – is on the rise. Since the early 1990s the population of the Jeddah urban area has more than doubled, reaching 4.1m residents as of the end of 2015, according to data from the General Authority for Statistics. While population growth in the city has slowed somewhat over the past half decade, from a high of 3.4% in 2011 to 2.6% in 2015, rising economic uncertainty across…

Interview

Key growth areas: OBG talks to Mazen Batterjee, Vice-Chairman, Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry
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Interview:Mazen Batterjee To what extent do you expect the National Transformation Programme to spur private sector investment in Jeddah and non-oil growth? MAZEN BATTERJEE: The non-oil private sector has potential to drive much of the growth in the Saudi economy. In the last decade, the non-oil private sector outperformed the economy as a whole, growing 10% annually, much faster than the overall 6% GDP growth rate. Therefore, I believe that for the coming period between 2016 and 2030, seven…

Interview

Fostering community: OBG talks to Hussein S Al Amoudi, Chairman, Shamayel United Development Company
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Interview:Hussein S Al Amoudi What sort of challenges do developers face in terms of ensuring adequate and necessary infrastructure for large mixed-use projects? HUSSEIN S AL AMOUDI: It is no surprise that uncertainty over the business environment and the availability of financing for projects has increased over the past 12 months, and this has led to a reassessment of many planned developments. However, the long-term fundamental drivers for construction demand here in the Kingdom remain…

Analysis

Bright spot: With strong public sector support, the industrial sector is growing
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Jeddah’s industrial market has benefitted from a surge of investment, driven by efforts to diversify away from oil. In late 2015 the Kingdom’s government announced that 45m sq metres of land in and around Jeddah had been allocated for industrial development, to be overseen by the Saudi Industrial Property Authority (MODON), a quasi-governmental entity established in 2001. At the time of the announcement, MODON had already completed work on 25m sq metres of this total, with the remaining 20m sq…