Saudi Giga Project Spending Shrinks. Hotel Developers Keep Building

Photo Caption: A render of Qiddiya. Credit: Qiddiya. Saudi Arabia has awarded $10.6 billion in giga project contracts so far this year, extending a decline that began in 2024 as the kingdom scaled back Neom, according to business intelligence platform MEED. Awards peaked at $31.7 billion in 2023, then fell to $26.7 billion in 2024 and $13.6 billion in 2025, Edward James, MEED’s head of content and research, said during a Saudi projects market webinar on Tuesday. Even at their peak, the giga projects made up a small share of Saudi Arabia’s construction market. About $117 billion in work has been awarded on them to date, roughly 17% of the $700 billion awarded across the kingdom over the past decade, MEED estimates. “The decline in giga project awards is not the overriding reason for a drop in project awards in the kingdom,” James said. This year’s awards have gone mostly to Qiddiya and Diriyah, and to a lesser extent Rua Al Madinah and Roshn. MEED expects the next wave to come from projects tied