Being half Saudi-half Kuwaiti, I am very happy and optimistic about the future of the two countries. Both have new leaders. King Fahed (allah yir7ima) passed away on August 1st, King Abdullah took over in and easy transition. Sheikh Jaber passed away on January 15, his successor was determined a few days later, it was more like a battle of the old vs the young, with the “young” successor being Sheikh Sabah. Anyways, both countries suffered a lot after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, other Gulf countries took the lead. So after 15 or so years, I am glad the both countries are actually doing something to catch up.
King Abdullah declared that his reign will be to socially change Saudi Arabia, smartly and slowly, and introduce more economic opportunities for his people. I personally dont know what Sheikh Sababh is doing or saying, I was not in Kuwait when he took over, but I know that his people want social and economic change too. From what I am seeing the Saudi people are more optimistic than the Kuwaiti people, and this is all from what I heard or read about Kuwait, nothing more.
Both countries introduced massive projects. The King Abdullah Economic City (in Saudi) and the City of Silk (in Kuwait), both have lame names, but both are BIG, with the Latter being the bigger of the too, much bigger. After hearing about the two, the first was introduced in December, and the second only recently, I was like, we will never see these projects coming to life, its the kind of thing Dubai builds. But we have two new leaders, who want to leave a mark after they go away (allah y6awil 3omorhom). We have people from both countries that dont really seem to have the self belief that their countries can achieve something that big. These projects are much more than economic projects, true that they will diversfy the source of income cause we rely too much on oil, they are projects that will make people believe in their countries again, believe that if they work together, not against each other, they can achieve anything.
Click below for more info and pics
The King Abdullah Economic City, a $26 Billion project, is on the red sea, 50km north of Jeddah. Construction Began on the 21st of December, and the project was made public on the 20th, now thats an achievement all by itself, it shows the people that the government is really committed to it, and that they are serious about making a change. It will consist of a mega port, that is ideally located between Europe, Africa and Asia. A number of resorts, and an educational zone, a residential area, a town center, an industrial district, and the financial Island. Construction will take up to five years.
The City of Silk (in Kuwait) is a much larger project. It will affect all of Kuwait (Kuwait is much smaller than Saudi 
). I read about it in December, but it was officially publicised a few days ago. It is a massive $150 billion project that will span 25 years. It plans to accommodate 700,000 people (Kuwait’s current population is a little over 2 million) and create 200,000 new jobs. It will have many different areas. It is located in northern Kuwait, and will be connected to Kuwait City by a bridge over the gulf of Kuwait, that would make the trip to the City of Silk in about 17 minutes, without the bridge it would take 45 minutes or more. It will have the worlds tallest building, The Mubarak Al Kabir Tower, standing at 1,001 meters. Thats 296 meter high than Burj Dubai (under construction). It will house a free trade zone, bussiness center, sports city, cultural city center, resorts, hotels, an environmental city, a media city, film city, industrial city, education city, health city, and a number of other things. Heck it will be its own country.
Does anyone know when construction would be begin? I am just afraid the the parliament will get involved and cut many things from this project. I know some people think this project will never see life, and some people think its a huge PR campaign, but if it was announced by the government, then it has to be true.
that thing wouldn’t fly , unless the big cats get to eat the cake
oh and the big cats aren’t in parliment
Im very optimistic about these projects. I’m actually going to take a trip to SUbiyah to see the construction zone, if there is one that is! I’ll snap a couple and send them to you Yazood.
Fingers crossed!!!
Well nothing is impossibale… We shall all live to witness it Inshala and maybe one day work there who knows….. So long Dubai thats all i gatta say :p …
Forzaq8, with a price tag like that, cats are bound to be fed
Fahad, you do that, even though i dont think you will find anything, but you never know
The Flying Penguin, seems like everyone in kuwait wants to live there, but i know kuwaities hate commutes, that 17min drive is a heck of a long time to arrive at the office, think about how long it will take to actually reach the bridge, and dont forget, no matter what they do, they will come up short in ensuring enough parking spaces
believe me, subways or metro stations are the ONLY way to go and cut traffic! I hope Sheikh Saba7 took a note of that from his recent trips to Asia. I for one will not be ashame to travel in a train that will take me to work or where ever in five minutes. Either that, or they should implement the car pool lane thing. BTW, it has been proven that traffic in Kuwait mixed by the random weather produces psychos and gives humans the urge to waste their lives by “gizing” the streets.
the problem with subways or trains, is that our people have a lot of “pride” and would rather drive their benz to work. they are going to build one in jubail industrial city that links with al dammam, cause a lot of people who work in jubail commute from dammam on a daily basis, it would be intersting to see if people are going to use it. i know that some older workers use the bus to go to their companies.
Dear Yazeed,
Very interesting indeed, and I have been hearing lots about the Kuwaiti city. I have tons of hope for our future in Kuwait, but like most Kuwaities I have seen lots of great and creative ideas degenerate into sickening and selfish corruption, and generally get screwed up because of the spoiled and brain dead consumerist way Kuwaities behave at the most basic level. It is actually HARD to be good in Kuwait, you have to STRUGGLE because it is easier to be bad, everything is so conducive to it!!!! It makes me sad that this is so, especially as I grew up in a time when Kuwait was far more innocent.
On the other hand, Saudi Arabians intrigue me. I have seen bubbly little bits of fascinating intelligent creativity from them, and had the opportunity to get to know some wonderful typical Saudi women and to know what their hopes and aspirations are. I found that underneath the surface, lies a fountain of independent thought and brain activity which the very closed culture belies.
Who knows what the future will bring?
MsB, who is an eternal optimist…
wow! I wish it would turn out this way! 3aad madry, anything that goes into the majlis al uma it gets eaten to pieces before coming out, and nothing ever happens!
MsB, so do i intrigue you?
i’ll try hard to be good (kuwaiti half) and intrigue, the best of both worlds
i am very optimistic of the future of both countries, and i think we will see the difference in the next few years.
Marzouq, the way out of this is the saudi solution, share the wealth, 30% of King Abdullah’s city is up for an IPO (ektitab 3am), so the people will want to get in the project and they will profit from it. maybe thats what kuwait should do, but 30% of $150bn is a large sum (but the project will take 25 years to complete)
Having lived in the Gulf(UAE, Saudi, Bahrain and Kuwait) since 1976, I have witnessed the developments, that have taken place, and they are indeed dramatic.
However, there is a clear division between the countries, where the leaders(ruling families) are having the well-being of their citizens at heart (Oman, UAE, Bahrain and lately Qatar) and the rest (being Saudi, Kuwait,Iraq and Iran).
The funds for creating the optimum living conditions for the relatively small number of inhabitants in the Gulf states have been available for the past two-hree decades, but due to greed and corruption amongst the leaders (and their relatives), this did not happen in the majority of these states.
Fortunately, the leaders in the UAE and Oman, early on, took a different route, and decided that the wealth created should be beneficial to all. This does not mean that the UAE and Oman are free of greed and corruption, but it has been somewhat controlled, with the result that, especially the UAE has become a world reknown state, respected for its progress, human values, personal security and attractive business environment.
This, maybe due to jealousy, resulted in some of the neighbouring countries realising that this was the right path to follow, and therefor adopted the same principles of sharing (some sort of democracy).
However, the remaining countries and their leaders have tried to keep the old feudal, tribal system, ensuring a small, elite, group of absolute cotrol.
They have consequently kept their citizens away from the developed world through censorship, restrictions of movement, lack of modern education, right of free speech etc.
On top of this, in order to keep absolute control, they have taken the Koran hostage, claiming that Islam is all about submission and acceptance of status quo.
Having read both the Bible and the Koran, in depth, I feel I can state, that in both, there is emphasis on love, compassion and forgiveness.
The divisions, as I see it, have been created by corrupt leaders (both Eastern and Western), who wish to be in control, and then use religion to gain access to this.
The Christians had this struggle between Jews, Catholics and the Protestants at the time of reformation in the 16th Century, and the muslims are having the same division between Shias and Sunnis, with the addion of al Qaidah and Hezbollah to blur the picture.
Another problem for the Gulf countries (including Iraq and Iran) is the question of borders.
Some of these are not made through historical or ethnic logics, but are just lines drawn on a map by the British, Ottoman or other occupiers during their reign, and especially, withdrawal from this part of the world.
Having observed all of this, I have also observed the Western worlds successfull play to keep the Arab world divided.( which is unfortunately quite easy)
The result of this play is, that a great share of the oil revenues return back to the West as payments for arms and military technology and advise, which are essentially not needed, heavily overpriced and only useful to increase tension amongst the nations in the region.
Just imagine, what investments in local or foreign assets could be done with the money spent on arms.
Coming back to the issue of the plans for Kuwait, it is indeed positive to learn that the leaders, finally, have decided to become part of the developed world.
Kuwait is the richest country on the planet (per capita), and is in a position to create a nation of happy, well educated and wealthy people.
They have every chance to show the regimes in Saudi, Iraq and Iran that things can be done in a different way, to the benefit of all.
One of the things, we have learned in the West (even in the US) is, that it is possible to be a leader by popular vote and not only by surpression and induction of fear.
What is going on in Iraq, right now, is only indoctrinated peoples understanding of justice. (eye for an eye).
This will happen tenfold in Saudi, when the time comes, unless the leaders change their attitude, what seems to be happening in Kuwait.
This lesson is still to be learned by the Saudi Royal family and the Ayatolas of Iran. I wish for them, they will learn before the peoples teach them a lesson. Because these peoples have been brought up by these same regimes, only to excercise and accept terror. (al Qaidah, the Mullahs and Hezbollah are prime examples).