ALBAWABA – The Saudi construction boom is amassing more investments as one of the country’s largest master developers lines up billions for yet another building spree in Saudi Arabia, Bloomberg reported Thursday.
Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) developer Roshn Real Estate Co. has lined up about $2.67 billion in funds as it gears up to work on a slew of projects across the kingdom.
The firm, owned by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, raised the financing after securing a $1.6 billion revolving credit facility from three local banks earlier this year.
Roshn is building around 400,000 homes across the kingdom along with about 1,000 schools and entire commercial and entertainment districts, according to Bloomberg. It is part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030 national transformation program.
“We’ve got about 10 billion lined up in balance sheet credit although we haven’t drawn the first six yet,” Roshn Group Chief Executive Officer David Grover said in a recent interview.
Construction machinery, belonging to the Development Authority of Mecca, take part in the demolishing of houses in the Nakasa neighbourhood in the Muslim holy city of Mecca part of a plan to redevelop this area on May 19, 2020. (Photo by AFP)
“We actually have enough money within our business at the moment from our receipts… But we will be drawing it down in the next three to nine months because we have some other investments that we need to make in terms of putting cash in to start projects,” he added.
The developer’s financial planning is very much structured to “make sure that we don’t have to slow down our journey at all if for any reason the funder wants to stop putting any cash into our business for two years,” Grover said.
The Saudi construction boom has seen a string of massive investments in the last seven to eight years, with total property and infrastructure projects valued at over one trillion dollars, earlier reports confirmed.
Earlier this week, the Cityscape Global 2023 exhibition launched in Riyadh with more than a dozen billion dollars in new investments announced on day one, further boosting the Saudi construction boom.
The Saudi construction boom has seen a significant boost from new projects announced at the Cityscape Global 2023 exhibition in Riyadh - Twitter
Bin Salman’s vision aims to turn the country away from reliance on hydrocarbon wealth and towards a more diversified economic base.
Other investments include mining and minerals, which are estimated at another one trillion dollars in terms of the value of metals scattered around the kingdom.
Saudi Arabia also established a new fund this week to bolster the Saudi construction boom, but focusing on the capital, Riyadh, and the development of the King Salman Park.
