The Public Investment Fund (PIF), Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, nearly tripled its holdings of US-listed stocks to $43.45 billion in Q3 2021, adding shares of Alibaba Group, Walmart and Pinterest.
Its US-listed stock holdings in the quarter that ended Sept. 30 increased from nearly $16 billion in the prior quarter, according to a US Securities and Exchange Commission filing, which added the PIF made 19 new investments.
A new five-year plan would make the fund the leading catalyst for Saudi Arabia’s economic transformation and diversification.
The Fund plans to double its assets to four trillion riyals ($1.07 trillion) by 2025. To boost domestic economy, it plans to inject at least 150 billion riyals annually in the local economy in the next four years.
The five-year strategy would see the fund creating 1.8 million direct and indirect jobs by 2025, from 331,000 by the end of by the third quarter of 2020.
Riyadh Metro Begins Operation on Sunday to Ease Traffic in Saudi Capitalhttps://english.aawsat.com/business/5086797-riyadh-metro-begins-operation-sunday-ease-traffic-saudi-capital
The media was given a tour of the new Riyadh Metro ahead of its official opening on Sunday. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Riyadh Metro Begins Operation on Sunday to Ease Traffic in Saudi Capital
The media was given a tour of the new Riyadh Metro ahead of its official opening on Sunday. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The Riyadh Metro, the backbone of the capital’s public transport network, will begin operation on Sunday.
The Riyadh Metro project is the largest in the Middle East and boasts the world’s longest driverless metro line in the world.
The metro will help ease 30 percent of traffic in Riyadh, said the Royal Commission for Riyadh City (RCRC) during a media tour of the project on Friday.
Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud had on Wednesday inaugurated the Riyadh Metro.
The network spans 176 kilometers across six lines and 85 stations, including four main ones. It will offer 10 million trips daily and has the capacity for over 3 million passengers. It has already been integrated into the existing bus network.
The Darb app was launched on Thursday to help improve the transport experience in Riyadh.
Maher Shira, Director General of the Smart City Department at the RCRC, told Asharq Al-Awsat during the media tour that the app brings together bus, ticket and metro networks all in one platform.
The app has four main features: the first introduces users to the metro network, including stations, schedules, routes and tickets. The second offers users the option to best plan their trip through suggesting the best routes through the various transportation modes available.
The third offers users the option to purchase tickets, including a pass that covers all modes of transportation in the network. The fourth feature is the customer service option.
Shira said the metro network can be expanded to take in Riyadh’s growing population.
The first phase of the network will open on Sunday. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The metro project was launched as part of Riyadh’s efforts to bolster sustainable transport and ease traffic, reflecting the Kingdom’s commitment to developing smart transport infrastructure, he added.
Sunday will witness the launch of the blue, yellow and purple lines of the metro network. The blue line spans Olaya Street to Al-Bathaa. The yellow line spans the King Khalid International Airport road and the purple line covers the Abdul Rahman Ibn Awf Road and the Al-Sheikh Hasan Ibn Hussein Ibn Ali Road.
The red and green lines of the metro will be launched by December 15 and the orange line by January 5.
Tickets are available on the Darb app and prices range from 4 to 140 riyals. A two-hour trip costs 4 riyals, a three-day pass is priced at 20 riyals, a one-week pass costs 40 riyals and the 30-day pass costs 140 riyals.
