RIYADH: Saudi Arabia plans to merge the company behind its Qiddiya desert mega leisure development with entertainment business SEVEN, Qiddiya said on Tuesday in what sources told Reuters was a move to get the multi-billion-dollar project back on track.
Delays have beset the kingdom's efforts to open up the economy and ease tight social restrictions, with Qiddiya years behind schedule.
The merger is designed to ensure that many of the important projects, including a massive sports stadium that should be ready for the World Cup 2034, are on track, one of the sources who declined to be identified to the sensitivity of the issue.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, chairman of Saudi Arabia's behemoth $700 billion sovereign wealth fund, is banking on entertainment projects such as Qiddiya to transform the kingdom and diversify its economy away from oil, under his Vision 2030 program.
Qiddiya was one of the first ambitious giga-projects announced in 2018. At that time, it was scheduled to open in 2022 and attract 1.5 million visitors. Its first two theme parks, Six Flags and Aqua Arabia, are now expected to open in 2025.
The merger follows announcements by the Saudi government that it will hold back on some of its flashy developments and prioritise others, as a 79-billion-riyal deficit looms.
"There are challenges... we don't have ego, we will change course, we will adjust, we will extend some of the projects, we will downscale some of the projects, we will accelerate some of the projects," Saudi Arabia' Finance Minister Mohammed Al Jadaan said at the World Economic Forum meeting in Riyadh in April. - Reuters