“There is no age requirement for Umrah pilgrims to enter the Two Holy Mosques, Ministry of Hajj and Umrah announced on Saturday. The ministry said that in order to issue a permit to enter the Two Holy Mosques via “Eatmarna” application worshippers must have their health condition as “Immune” in the “Tawakkalna” application.”
“The city has been growing for ages but there’s always a critical issue with urban planning. If you improve public transport, provide easy access to facilities such as parks and services in the area, integrate green spaces into the plan, maintain upkeep of urban space and public spaces based on residents’ needs and requirements, then you will elevate the quality of life for the residents of the city.”
Musaed Al-Ghamdi, Saudi architect, commenting on the planned $20b Jeddah Central Project. [Arab News]
“Electricity generation from renewables doubled in the [Middle East] region between 2010 and 2020 to 40GW and it is anticipated to double again by 2024.”
The Coming Renewable Energy Revolution in the Middle East [Architect Magazine]
“While 96% of HNWI plan to purchase a home in one of the country’s gigaprojects, NEOM is far and away the favourite gigaproject. This preference for NEOM above other gigaprojects is echoed across HNWI in Riyadh (61%), as well as Jeddah (58%). And what’s more, 82% of NEOM’s HNWI supporters will be willing to pay a premium to live here.”
Knight Frank’s annual survey, which separately spoke to 1,003 households and 55 HNWI in Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam has found that the appeal of NEOM amongst the kingdom’s planned gigaprojects is unanimous. [Construction Week].
“Saudi accounts for 34% of Islamic assets under management (AUM), Fitch says, and Malaysia 29%. These two markets have dominated the industry for 20 years and there is no sign of that fading.”
“With the global recovery we’re seeing today, there is more demand for products and we see that from different enclaves, especially in Asia. There’s some pick up in the rest of the world.”
Aramco CEO Amin Nasser said during a speech in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. [Yahoo]
“According to an independent economic study requested by Dubai authorities, Ernst & Young expects Expo to have generated 905,200 jobs in the region and boosted the UAE economy overall by $33.4bn by 2031. When Expo closes next month, an estimated 25 million people will have visited and participated in its programmes – all of whom will have exchanged knowledge, culture and business in some form – and contributed to the region’s future development.”
“Saudi Arabia will soon introduce options trading on single stocks to further boost liquidity in the Middle East’s biggest stock market. The step would mark the latest move toward liberalizing Riyadh’s stock exchange and encouraging participation from foreign investors.”
“Eighteen months ago, we were in a global apocalypse for the energy sector, and now you’re talking about out-sized returns. We should all pause and recognize the tectonic shift.”
-Travis Stice, chief executive officer of shale driller Diamondback Energy Inc. [Bloomberg]
“We have estimated that over 200 million people across the Middle East, North Africa, and Pakistan (MENAP) shifted primarily to eCommerce since the start of the (Covid) pandemic. Roughly 83 percent of consumers in the region say they’ll maintain or increase their eCommerce spend year on year in 2022. Furthermore, 60 percent now prefer to pay via digital payment methods – a 20 percent increase year-on-year in 2021.”
Reem al-Harbi, Checkout.com’s general manager in Saudi Arabia. [i24 News]
