John Pagano, CEO of the Red Sea Development Company and the Amaala project - two prominent pillars of the tourism transformation within the Kingdom Vision 2030 - revealed that Saudi Arabia intends to raise up to 10 billion riyals (USD 2.67 billion) next year for the Amaala project, one of the largest resort tourism projects in the world.
Amaala and the Red Sea projects, which are being built on the Red Sea coast, are part of Saudi Arabia’s efforts to diversify the Kingdom’s economy by promoting new sectors such as tourism. The two projects are also environmentally friendly and will rely on renewable sources of energy.
The planned “green” financing for the Amaala project would follow a larger loan raised earlier this year for the Red Sea Project.
“We will come to the market probably sometime next year with a financing for Amaala specifically related to the first phase of the project,” Pagano told Reuters on Tuesday.
He said the loan was likely to be between 5 and 10 billion riyals and follows the 14 billion riyals raised by The Red Sea Development Company (TRSDC) earlier this year, Reuters reported.
According to the agency, the Red Sea project loan was provided by four Saudi banks to finance 16 new hotels. The Amaala financing will be for nine hotels in the first phase of the project, Pagano said, adding the plan is to open those facilities in 2024.
Meanwhile, Amaala Company reported that it had awarded more than 230 contracts with a total value of 3.6 billion riyals (one billion dollars) for local and international companies.
In a statement on its official Twitter account, the company said that 78% of the contracts were awarded to Saudi companies as part of its commitment to Saudi Vision 2030 and its contribution to supporting the Saudi economy.
Amaala and The Red Sea Project, wholly owned by the Saudi Public Investment Fund, will most likely merge into the Red Sea Group by the end of this year.
“The coming together of the two organizations is a natural evolution,” Pagano said.
