UNDERGOING A ONCE-IN-A-LIFETIME TRANSFORMATION, RIYADH MUST LISTEN TO ITS YOUTH TO SECURE ITS FUTURE ON THE GLOBAL STAGE.

Foreword

The Future of Infrastructure

Saudi Arabia is undergoing a once-in-a-lifetime social transformation with Riyadh playing a central role. The capital has a young and rapidly-expanding population that is open to investment, new technologies and having a greater say in the infrastructure decisions that affect the city. These traits we see reflected again and again in the Riyadh-focused results of AECOM’s second global Future of Infrastructure report.

As part of this research, we asked 980 people in Riyadh for their views on the city’s infrastructure and their hopes for its evolution. We found that the citizens recognize the steps being taken to improve the city’s transportation provision, namely through the construction of Riyadh Metro and the modernization of King Khalid International Airport. But they are frustrated by the cost of utility bills and want to see more environmentally sustainable solutions to the city’s infrastructure challenges.

Crucially, for the citizens of Riyadh, smarter, faster, better infrastructure is a team effort. Citizens want to have more say on infrastructure improvements earlier in the planning stage. They’re keen for greater private sector involvement in infrastructure development and are willing to share their personal data to help the city’s agencies improve public services.

AECOM has extensive experience of working in Riyadh and other major global cities. With our network of planners, designers, engineers and management professionals, we have the knowledge and reach to develop and deliver innovative infrastructure solutions that improve lives and connect communities.

Hamed Zaghw
Chief Executive, Middle East and Africa, AECOM

Ian Laski
President, AECOM Arabia

Driven by Vision 2030, Saudi Arabia is undergoing a major economic and social reform program to reduce its reliance on oil revenues and government spending. Key to its success is attracting private sector investment and nurturing an entrepreneurial environment, as well as ensuring plentiful and appealing employment opportunities for its young population, and creating a high-performing, accountable government.

Riyadh, the country’s financial and administrative capital, is at the heart of this vision and well positioned to achieve these goals. Its residents have confidence in Riyadh Municipality’s ability, but want to be more involved in decisions to improve the city’s infrastructure.

INFRASTRUCTURE IS EVERYONE’S BUSINESS

In collaboration with Longitude — a Financial Times Company, AECOM’s Future of Infrastructure research harnesses survey data and opinions from over 10,000 infrastructure users in 10 major global cities, including Riyadh, to ask how satisfied, safe, inspired and engaged people feel with their roads and bridges, rail services and utilities.

  • Satisfaction
  • Engagement
  • Innovation
  • Resilience
  • City quick facts

    City Leader / Mayor

    Prince Faisal bin Bandar bin Abdulaziz Al Saud – Governor of Riyadh (January 2015 – present)

    Tariq bin Abdulaziz Al-Faris – Mayor of Riyadh (February 2018 — present)

    Riyadh Development Authority is responsible for the urban, economic, social and cultural development of Riyadh. It manages issues related to environment management and protection, and provides public services and utilities.


    Headquartered in Riyadh, the Public Transport Authority designs, constructs and operates public transport systems in Saudi Arabia’s main cities. It implements public transport plans and attracts investment that contributes to the Kingdom’s economic and social development.

    Who is responsible for infrastructure?

    The Riyadh Development Authority comprises members from several government bodies and authorities, including the Ministry of Water and Electricity, Ministry of Transport, Riyadh Municipality and the Saudi Electricity Company. The private sector is represented via the Riyadh Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

A YOUNG, TRANSFORMING CITY

Riyadh stood out in four areas: eagerness for private sector involvement in infrastructure development, the unaffordability of electricity, reliance on personal cars and taxis, and confidence in the city’s resilience.

Aligning with Vision 2030, 78% of citizens responded in favour of more private sector involvement in infrastructure development, second only to Mumbai (82%).

With 75% of citizens stating electricity bills are unaffordable, most likely a result of the government subsidy removal and introduction of VAT on electricity bills in 2018, Riyadh citizens are around twice as unhappy about their energy prices as the overall average percentage.

Respondents reported the lowest use of public transport of all cities surveyed — just 5% use buses as their primary mode of transport. Comparatively, 70% are dependent on their own car and 17% on taxis to move around the city.

In terms of resilience, the Riyadh respondents were the most positive about their city’s ability to protect infrastructure from natural disasters, cyberattacks and terrorism.

The Voice of the People // The Future of Infrastructure

[City]: Satisfaction

Residents are recognizing the efforts of Riyadh’s infrastructure planners and operators to enhance their services. In particular, 72% of citizens are happier than 12 months ago with the service provided by airports, while 60% note an improvement in roads and bridges.

King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh is undergoing significant expansion and modernization to support the capital’s industrial and economic growth. These enhancements, combined with an improved customs process, have no doubt led to citizens’ positive opinion.

Scores for satisfaction, engagement, innovation, and resilience are based on a 1–10 scale.

  • 10–7.6

    Very satisfied

  • 7.5–5.1

    Moderately satisfied

  • 5.0–2.6

    Not very satisfied

  • 2.5–1.0

    Dissatisfied

Riyadh’s rapid population growth and heavy reliance on roads to move people and goods have put pressure on Riyadh’s road network. In response, the authorities commissioned several infrastructure improvements involving the construction of ring roads, tunnels and bridges. While some roads are still congested, road safety, connectivity and journey times are being enhanced, and are clearly appreciated.

Interestingly, 46% report an improvement in rail/subway service (versus 11% of the opposite opinion). This is despite Riyadh Metro not yet being complete. Given that 66% of citizens surveyed are confident their city government makes the right decisions about which large-scale infrastructure investments to fund, and the highly visible Riyadh Metro project, our view is that citizens are upbeat about the progress being made with the city-wide metro network and confident it will benefit them.

In terms of utilities, 44% of citizens surveyed reported an improvement in the electricity infrastructure (versus 24% who feel it has worsened) and 50% described the water provision as better than 12 months ago (versus 15% who feel it has worsened). Apart from Mumbai, the satisfaction levels of Riyadh citizens for its water and power infrastructure outrank the other cities surveyed.

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Do You Know Your Community?
Five Steps to Working Closer

Do You Know Your Community?
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All change?
Infrastructure’s Next-Gen Workforce

All change?
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An Informed Engaged Public:
Key to Modernizing Infrastructure

An Informed Engaged Public:

The Voice of the People // The Future of Infrastructure

[City]: Engagement

Riyadh has the youngest population of all cities surveyed;  almost 60% of it residents are aged under 35.

Spanning Millennials and Generation X, this group is highly active on social media. The city’s planning and public transport providers are using this channel to good effect according to the survey results — only 13% of citizens disagreed that the city planning authorities make it easy for them to interact with them through social media. Similarly, this was the medium most commonly used by Riyadh’s public transport providers over the last 12 months to engage citizens, 32% report interaction through this channel.

 

Scores for satisfaction, engagement, innovation, and resilience are based on a 1–10 scale.

  • 10–7.6

    Very satisfied

  • 7.5–5.1

    Moderately satisfied

  • 5.0–2.6

    Not very satisfied

  • 2.5–1.0

    Dissatisfied

The Riyadh authorities are well ahead of their counterparts in all but one of the cities surveyed regarding making it easy for citizens to respond through mobile channels (apps, SMS).

On average, Riyadh citizens have had 1.6 opportunities over the last year to provide feedback to a public transportation provider. Slightly above average (1.2) for the cities surveyed, the Riyadh figure (1.6) is double that of Singapore and Sydney (0.8).

Some 48% of citizens agree that the public authorities communicate clearly how citizens can submit feedback on infrastructure issues, 15% disagree. However, only 14% of citizens feel that feedback requests come at the appropriate time in the planning stage to be meaningful. While this feeling reflects other cities’ findings, Riyadh fares the worst.

Riyadh respondents, however, did have more opportunities than most of the other cities’ citizens to provide feedback on public infrastructure issues over the last year. The top four issues for feedback were billing and payments, price of services, use of new technologies, and methods of communication with customers. Unfortunately, these don’t correlate with the top three infrastructure improvements that citizens would like to see — upgrading of utilities, upgrading of public transportation and improving environmental sustainability (e.g. recycling, solar power).

tHE Top Three major infrastructure projects delivered in Riyadh the last ten years

Project

Riyadh Water Supply Program

Riyadh Water Supply Program
Project

King Abdallah Bridge, King Abdullah Financial District, Riyadh

King Abdallah Bridge, King Abdullah Financial District, Riyadh
Project

Al Kharj Road Sewage Treatment Plant, Riyadh

Al Kharj Road Sewage Treatment Plant, Riyadh

The Voice of the People // The Future of Infrastructure

[City]: Innovation

Around 85% of Riyadh citizens reported that mobile payments are offered by their city government agencies and utility providers, 9% above the global city average. Another highly recognized public service offered in Riyadh is the feed-in electricity tariffs. Of the 980 Riyadh citizens surveyed, 48% recall this service being offered — the highest of all cities surveyed and three times the percentage reported by U.S. citizens.

When comparing the public services or technologies offered in Riyadh that score the lowest against the other cities surveyed, it’s evident that Riyadh is lagging behind in offering technologies that improve environmental sustainability. Riyadh scores well below other cities in the following areas: electric car battery charging stations, waste recycling and carpooling.

Scores for satisfaction, engagement, innovation, and resilience are based on a 1–10 scale.

  • 10–7.6

    Very satisfied

  • 7.5–5.1

    Moderately satisfied

  • 5.0–2.6

    Not very satisfied

  • 2.5–1.0

    Dissatisfied

In terms of which technologies will have the biggest impact on their quality of life, Riyadh citizens share very similar opinions to those of the other cities surveyed. Solar power, fast rail connections to the airport and fiber-optic broadband all appear in the top three technologies in varying orders of priority for Riyadh, Mumbai, Sydney, London, Los Angeles and New York.

Sharing personal data is an activity that most people universally are reluctant to do. In Riyadh, however, only 23% of citizens would be unhappy to share their personal data with relevant city agencies to help them improve city infrastructure or public services. This suggests great confidence among Riyadh citizens in their city’s authorities to protect their data, as well as a desire to contribute to infrastructure improvements.

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Right Here, Right Now:
Mobility as a Service

Right Here, Right Now:
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Olmsted Dam:
Making Modern America

Olmsted Dam:
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Making Cities Resilient:
A Cyber Stress Test

Making Cities Resilient:

The Voice of the People // The Future of Infrastructure

[City]: Resilience

Of the cities surveyed, Riyadh citizens have the highest confidence in their city government to protect infrastructure from natural disasters, cyberattacks and terrorism.

Just over half (51%) advised that they had been informed of drills organized in the past two years to prepare for emergency situations — compared with the all-city average (39%).

Scores for satisfaction, engagement, innovation, and resilience are based on a 1–10 scale.

  • 10–7.6

    Very satisfied

  • 7.5–5.1

    Moderately satisfied

  • 5.0–2.6

    Not very satisfied

  • 2.5–1.0

    Dissatisfied

Flooding is Riyadh’s main natural disaster threat. The city’s rapid urbanization, population growth, lack of natural drainage outlets and impervious road surfaces have led to flash flooding — causing significant damage and disruption as well as loss of life. New dams, which capture seasonal rains, are being developed to help deal with this, and several parks and recreational spaces created surrounding them, such as Wadi Hanifah. Citizens appear to recognize these efforts – registering the highest levels of confidence among the surveyed cities’ respondents in their city authority’s ability to protect infrastructure from natural disasters (only 25% responded negatively), while 64% also agree or strongly agree that the amount of green space in Riyadh has expanded in the last two years.

Compared to previous rankings in several ‘world’s safest city’ lists, 69% of Riyadh citizens told us they are confident in their city government’s ability to protect infrastructure from terrorism. This is significantly higher than the other major cities surveyed, including Toronto (30%) ― which appears almost 100 places above Riyadh in SafeAround’s World’s Safest Cities ranking.

Saudi Arabia takes national security threats very seriously. Its firm approach and defense budget — which is the third largest in the world — no doubt boosts citizens’ confidence in their country’s ability to manage terrorist attacks.

In line with Vision 2030, Saudi Arabia has been fast tracking digital-infrastructure advancements to support related economic sectors and start-ups, and also announced plans to train 800 government employees as cybersecurity specialists. Riyadh citizens again recognize these developments, with the majority confident in the city government’s ability to protect infrastructure from cyberattacks. 

The Future of Infrastructure

Infographic

Riyadh at a glance

The top two future infrastructure projects in Riyadh

Article / Funding

Five Steps to Working Closer
Key to Modernizing Infrastructure

Five Steps to Working Closer
Project

Riyadh Metro

Riyadh Metro
Project

King Khalid International Airport, Riyadh

King Khalid International Airport, Riyadh