Contracts Awarded to Implement 1st Phase of Developing Riyadh Road Network

The Royal Commission for Riyadh City (RCRC) headquarters. Photo: RCRC website
The Royal Commission for Riyadh City (RCRC) headquarters. Photo: RCRC website
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Contracts Awarded to Implement 1st Phase of Developing Riyadh Road Network

The Royal Commission for Riyadh City (RCRC) headquarters. Photo: RCRC website
The Royal Commission for Riyadh City (RCRC) headquarters. Photo: RCRC website

The Royal Commission for Riyadh City (RCRC) has awarded four road development contracts worth SR13 billion ($3.46 billion) as part of the first phase of the program to enhance the capital city’s transport network.

The Board of Directors of the commission announced on Thursday that the first phase of the program aims to develop the axes of the main and rings roads and link them to provide sustainable transport and logistics services in the city.

The four projects are as follows:

1. The building of a second southern ring road that extends 56 kilometers from the new Al-Kharj Road in the east to the Jeddah Road in the west. It will include four lanes for the main road in each direction and three lanes for the service road in each direction. The road will have 10 main intersections and 32 bridges.

2. Building two bridges parallel to the cable-stayed Wadi Laban Bridge and developing a 4km intersection of the western ring road with Jeddah Road. Four bridges at the intersection of the western ring road with Jeddah Road will also be built.

3. Developing the western part of the axis of Al-Thumama Road, measuring 6km, that extends from King Khalid Road in the west to King Fahd Road in the east. The construction of two main bridges and three tunnels.

4. Lengthening the Taif Road in the Laban neighborhood by 16km so that it extends to the Qiddiya Project.

In order to maintain the highest degree of traffic flow on the roads that will witness the implementation of these projects, the RCRC has developed a plan to manage traffic diversions on these roads, in partnership with the relevant authorities in the city.



SAMA’s Reserve Assets Rise to $467.7 Billion

The headquarters of SAMA (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The headquarters of SAMA (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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SAMA’s Reserve Assets Rise to $467.7 Billion

The headquarters of SAMA (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The headquarters of SAMA (Asharq Al-Awsat)

The Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) reported an annual growth rate of 5.5 percent in its reserve assets, with an increase of approximately SAR 92.049 billion ($24.5 billion).
The growth brought the total reserve assets to SAR 1.754 trillion ($467.7 billion) by the end of the second quarter of the current year, compared to SAR 1.662 trillion ($443.2 billion) during the same period last year.
According to the Saudi Central Bank’s latest monthly statistical bulletin, reserve assets reached their highest levels at the end of June. On a quarterly basis, reserve assets grew by 2.7 percent, an increase of approximately SAR 46.724 billion, compared to the first quarter, which stood at SAR 1.707 trillion. On a monthly basis, the reserve assets grew by 0.1 percent, with an increase of about SAR 1.146 billion.
Reserve assets have seen a 6.6 percent increase from the beginning of the year until the end of June.
Reserve assets are composed of five main components. The largest of these is "Investments in Securities Abroad," which constitutes approximately 58 percent of the total, amounting to around SAR 1.016 trillion at the end of the second quarter of 2024.
The second largest component is "Foreign Exchange and Deposits Abroad," which represents about 37 percent of the total, amounting to approximately SAR 646.3 billion.
The third component, "Special Drawing Rights," accounts for around 4 percent of the total, amounting to SAR 77.2 billion.
The fourth item is the "Reserve Position with the International Monetary Fund," which totals SAR 13.3 billion.
Finally, "Monetary Gold" makes up the fifth component, with a value of approximately SAR 1.624 billion.