The global pandemic and its impact on travel is causing the Kingdom to delay its plans to raise financing “potentially worth billions of dollars” for the expansion of Riyadh’s airport, sources told Reuters.
Riyadh Airports Company, which manages and operates King Khalid International Airport in the Saudi capital, approached banks last year with a request for financing proposals on the planned airport expansion, which sources said would have been worth several billions of dollars, according to Reuters. But, the company has now halted the process, three banking sources said.
“At this stage, it’s been cancelled,” said one of the sources to Reuters. “In this environment I guess they have decided that it doesn’t necessarily make sense to borrow money to expand the airport right now,” said the source, speaking on condition of anonymity because the matter is private.
“It has been put on hold, postponed. They are prioritizing projects based on budgetary needs,” a second source said.
Saudi Arabia was a global leader in proactive decision-making to prevent the spread of the virus within the Kingdom’s borders throughout the year, which is now bearing fruits: Saudi Arabia is now administrating the Coronavirus vaccine and new cases have steadily decreased to the lowest numbers since the pandemic began. That should place Saudi Arabia in a good position as the global economy shifts into recovery mode in 2021.
Still, with new developments and tourism destinations across the country, Saudi authorities are, for now, prioritizing other projects, according to Reuters. The country this week announced plans worth hundreds of billions of dollars to build a zero-carbon city at NEOM, called The Line, a 26,500-square-km (10,230-square-mile) high-tech development on the Red Sea planned for completion in 2025.
