Overview

The Green Riyadh project is one of the most ambitious urban forestation projects in the world. Green Riyadh is one of Riyadh four grand projects launched by the Custodian of Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz on 19 March 2019, under supervision of the Committee of Grand Projects chaired by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Deputy leader of the Cabinet and Minister of Defense This project is a key element of the Kingdom’s 2030 vision and is an important part of the city’s challenges towards becoming one of the top 100 cities in the world and eventually achieving the highest ranking possible.

The Green Riyadh Project includes planting 7.5 million trees across the capital in gardens and parks, mosques, schools, academic, healthcare and public facilities in addition to King Khaled International Airport and most of roads, streets, car parking spaces, and valleys. To secure the required irrigation water for this project, new irrigation networks will be established to use recycled water which is usually being wasted in the valleys. Selected species of trees will be used to make wide shade cover. Those species will survive in Riyadh’s desert environment and they will not require large amounts of water. Additionally, required supportive elements will be made available for this project such as: a network of nurseries to feed the project with seedlings, legislation and urban standards will be developed to encourage tree planting on public and private projects, and all local community groups will be encouraged to participate in volunteering initiatives within the Green Riyadh project

The Green Riyadh will contribute an increase in per capita green space from 1.7 square meters to 28 square meters and increase the total green space in the city to 9% or 545 square kilometer. Besides its key role in improving the quality of air and reducing temperature, it will be saving natural territories and biological diversity inside and outside the city of Riyadh.

 Vision

The Green Riyadh project will contribute in increasing the per capita share of green space, and raise total green spaces through planting trees around all city features and facilities as well as in all its provinces. All of the greening will be watered by recycled water from an irrigation network. The greening initiative will lead to improved air quality and reduced temperatures in the city. As a consequence, this project will encourage Riyadh citizens to follow a healthy lifestyle which is part of the Kingdom’s 2030 Vision.

541 km2 Green Space                7.5 Million Trees                     1,100 km2 Green Belt                    16,400 km2 Roads and streets

Investment

The ambitious Green Riyadh project, which aims to transform the capital of Saudi Arabia into a green metropolis, seems to be in full swing. The public authorities have announced an investment of 23 billion dollars to provide the capital with green spaces and 7.5 million trees.

Launched by the public authorities, the “Green Riyadh” project aims to dramatically increase the vegetation cover of the Saudi capital. In total, no less than 7.5 million trees are expected to be planted throughout the capital. All urban facilities such as mosques, roads, and public institutions are expected to benefit.

Implementation

The creation of the project was based on a simple observation: the proportion of green space per inhabitant is currently too low in the Saudi capital. This program aims to drastically change this statistic since it has the ambition to increase this proportion from the current 1.7 square meters to 28 in the upcoming years! A total of 545 square kilometers of green spaces should be created in the near future.

And the least that can be said is that the public authorities have given themselves the means to achieve their ambitions. 23 billion dollars have been allocated to ensure that the project sees the light of day.

Parks, roads, mosques, airports: everything will be green.

 Initially, 31,000 trees and 100,000 shrubs are scheduled to be planted around the city’s main urban arteries. Among the roads chosen are King Fahd road, the road to Makkah al Mukarramah, the northern and eastern part of Riyadh”s ring road, the road to King Salman, and the road to King Khaled.

In the medium term, the project also provides for the creation of 3,250 residential parks and 48 large public parks. King Khaled International Airport should also benefit from this program and might become one of the greenest airports in the world. In order to ensure the sustainability and durability of the project, it is also planned that the irrigation network for the green spaces will be completely redesigned. The water, used abundantly in the valleys, will be directly recycled to supply the urban green spaces. By the end of the project, Riyadh is expected to incorporate the top 100 greenest cities in the world.