Jeddah

Spurred by rapid population growth and mounting public and private investment, Jeddah – Saudi Arabia’s second-largest city – is on the rise. Since the early 1990s the population of its urban area has more than doubled, reaching 4.1m residents as of the end of 2015. While this growth has slowed somewhat over the past half decade, from a high of 3.4% in 2011 to 2.6% in 2015, rising economic uncertainty across much of the Gulf and wider Middle East has driven increased investment in Jeddah over the same period. Indeed, as of January 2016, more than 850 development projects worth a combined SR74bn ($19.7bn) were under way across the municipal region, including state-led initiatives aimed at upgrading and expanding transport infrastructure, power and sewage networks, and education provision.

This chapter contains interviews with Mazen Batterjee, Vice-Chairman, Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry; and Hussein S Al Amoudi, Chairman, Shamayel United Development Company.