Saudi Arabia could be just weeks away from clinching the first significant funding package for a key part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s program to diversify the Kingdom’s economy, Bloomberg reports.
The Red Sea Development Co.’s 14 billion-riyal ($3.7 billion) loan is set to close with a small group of local banks including Saudi National Bank, Banque Saudi Fransi, Riyad Bank and Saudi British Bank, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.
The deal to help fund the first phase of the development will be a so-called green loan, with the proceeds used to finance environmentally sustainable investment, the sources told Bloomberg.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Thrusting open its doors to domestic and international tourists is one of the ways the Kingdom is seeking to diversify its economy away from oil and provide a better quality of life for its citizens, as well as creating hundreds of thousands of jobs.
The Red Sea tourism project, announced in 2017, seeks to create what planners call “a luxury destination created around one of the world’s hidden natural treasures” offering visitors the chance “to explore the wonders and rich cultural heritage of Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Coast.”
Included in the ultimate development of the project will be adventure destinations like adventures on and off dormant volcanos, stunning coral reefs and centers for entertainment, wellness, and relaxation.
Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coastline is ripe with natural beauty rarely experienced by tourists. Fringing reefs, which start at the shore and grow toward the sea, line the northwestern Saudi Arabian coastline. As NASA recently noted in a post sharing a photo of the Red Sea from space, coral reef biodiversity increases to the south, where patch and barrier reefs combine with fringing reefs to form rich ecosystems. Coral reefs are known as “rainforests of the sea” for their biodiversity and their functionality in nature—providing a food source for other sea life and humans, while also protecting shorelines.
Saudi Arabia’s planned Red Sea Development Projects will create massive tourism opportunities for the Kingdom, but Saudi authorities are keen on keeping the natural, pristine beauty of the as-yet developed sites intact during planning and construction. One of the preservation efforts will focus on preserving one natural wonder that is often lost with cities and developments around the world: the night sky. The Kingdom’s Red Sea Development Co. (TRSDC) signed a contract with Cundall, an international multidisciplinary engineering consultancy, to “provide innovative solutions in sustainable design and develop a strategy that would reduce unnatural light during night time at the Red Sea project site.”
