Here’s an interesting article on the pressure facing Saudi Arabia’s economic cities to perform to expectations. Saudi Arabia is building quite a few new “economic cities,” with King Abdullah Economic City being the premier project. The kingdom plans for the cities to be pockets of relative freedom in the country, and the goal is to attract and provide jobs for young people, many of whom are unemployed. Saudi Arabia says it has $35 billion of investment, and the cities are already being built. However, their success is not guaranteed. Many economists say that the cities will not be competitive in a region that already has financial and commercial centers like Cairo and Dubai nearby that don’t enforce strict religious laws. The country’s powerful clerical class is also wary of the project because the cities will have a relatively relaxed religious code (though still very strict by Western standards) and its people will have increased freedom. They probably view the cities as a threat to their authority. The fate of the cities also depends on the whim of King Abdullah. Of course, he is unlikely to abandon a city that is named after him, but if regional tensions between the Sunnis and Shiites becomes too tense, he might be forced to appease the religious establishment…

http://www.iht.com/articles/reuters/2008/08/20/africa/OUKWD-UK-SAUDI-ECONCITIES.php

Knowledge Economic City (KEC) in Madinah is one of many megaproject launched by the government in recent years to diversify the country’s economy and decrease dependence on oil.

The Economic Cities concept include five other projects, three of them have been launched in Rabigh, Hail and Jazan, and two more are expected to be launched later this year in Tabuk and the Eastern Province. It is still not known where exactly in the EP they plan to build the economic city, but I hope they choose either Qatif or Ahssa as both regions has not received the development they deserve in the past.

Building huge projects like these is a big challenge, and making them work efficiently is a bigger challenge. SAGIA, the government’s arm that oversees these projects, have a vision for the economic cities contribute between a quarter and a third of the aspired national growth rate, to create over a million jobs, and to become home to 4-5 million residents by 2020.

KEC, with a total investment worth US$ 7bn, is particularly interesting because it will focus on knowledge based industries, tourism and services. As part of their effort to raise awareness and create excitement around the project, SAGIA are organizing the first ever Islamic Conference for Science & Knowledge (Noor). The event will take place later this month in Madinah.

I hope that some bloggers from the Western region would register to attend the event as it will tackle some topics of importance to them such as healthcare and information communications technology. I would like to attend but I won’t be done with my finals until the 23rd, and on the 25th I will leave the Kingdom to attend the GV Summit 08 in Budapest, Hungary.