The building will be located in a new district of the capital Riyadh, where schools, hospitals and a new stadium with 45,000 seats will also grow. This district should eventually be populated by 400,000 inhabitants.
Earthworks have already started. The first contracts for the construction of the building itself will be concluded next year.
Mukaab is one of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s mega-projects. His father King Salman Ben Abdulaziz Al Saud, 88 years old and in failing health, has occupied the throne since 2015 but it is his son – who became first in the order of succession in 2017 – who de facto rules the kingdom. The latter intends to diversify the economy of the country, the world’s leading exporter of crude oil, and make Saudi Arabia a nerve center for international tourism and leisure.
Among these major projects, “The Line” is the best known. This is a city that can accommodate a million inhabitants, without cars, “no roads and zero carbon emissions”, Mohammed ben Salman praised when the project was announced in 2021. This futuristic city must be dressed in mirrors in the middle of the desert. However, for budgetary reasons, the project was postponed.
