New Murabba Development Company CEO Michael Dyke poses during the Smart City Expo World Congress at Fira Barcelona in the Catalan city, Spain, Nov. 6. Courtesy of New Murabba Development Company
BARCELONA, Spain — Saudi Arabia surprised the world with its de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's announcement, proposing an architectural project to build a 400-meter-tall, cube-shaped skyscraper near the kingdom's capital city of Riyadh in February last year.
Covering a space 10 times the size of the Empire State Building, the Mukaab is planned to be the centerpiece of the country's ambitious urban development project for a gigantic new satellite city — New Murabba.
Named after late King Abdulaziz ibn Saud's main residence, New Murabba is also part of the country's national development plan, Saudi Vision 2030. In a bid to realize this ambition, the crown prince and his government established the New Murabba Development Company (NMDC) and appointed Michael Dyke as CEO. Dyke is also the former CEO of the HS2 project at Balfour Beatty.
During the Smart City Expo World Congress, held at Fira Barcelona in the Catalan city, Spain, Dyke said the company was looking for partnerships not only with constructors but also with tech firms with top-notch technologies that can realize the ongoing urban development project in the northwest of Riyadh.
“New Murabba and its iconic Mukaab will be a new gateway for Saudi Arabia and a symbol for a future city with state-of-art technologies,” Dyke said during an exclusive interview with The Korea Times on Nov. 6.
This photo shows a rendered model of the Mukaab. / Courtesy of New Murabba Development Company
According to an NMDC official, New Murabba will have 100,000 residential units for over 400,000 people on 27 million square meters of developed assets, with 18 municipal communities. The city will feature 500,000 sq m of retail space as well, larger than the size of Dubai Mall.
It will also offer about 1.3 million sq m of office space, similar to the size of Wall Street in New York and almost five times the size of Apple Park. It will also house a multipurpose sports stadium with 45,000 seats. Top schools, hospitals and health care facilities will also help create a high standard of living there.
“Every facility will be within a 15-minute walking radius. The area will also host a wide variety of future mobility options,” Dyke added.
For the city's symbol Mukaab, the entire exterior on its walls will feature an ultra-high wraparound interior LED with 4D physical effects, similar to the Sphere that opened last year in Las Vegas. The project official said the skyscraper is expected to accommodate 27,000 people every day, while about 90 million people are expected to visit annually once the project is completed.
“Various cutting-edge technologies are a must to realize our ambition here,” Dyke said.
“We are in talks with various global tech powerhouses for possible partnerships. We also need industrial partners with massive engineering capabilities to realize this ambition.”
Dyke also pointed out that the project will still be there even after the 2030 mark.
“Of course, the phase 1 for the New Murabba project will be completed by 2030. There will still be room to add up (to the) Mukaab as well as the city because technologies develop so rapidly every day. We need (to) leave room for our future generation.”
He also visited Korea last year in a bid to find future partners.
“I visited Naver last year. They have a set of technologies for the future. I also understand there are also top-notch constructors in Korea. Data suggests that over 66 percent of Saudi's entire population is aged under 35. I believe there are (also) opportunities in Saudi Arabia,” he added.