Emirati tycoon plans multimillion-dollar Saudi leisure project

Khalaf Ahmed Al Habtoor, Chairman of the Al Habtoor Group, gestures during an interview with Reuters in Dubai January 9, 2016. Picture taken January 9, 2016. REUTERS/Ashraf Mohammad - GF20000091080
Khalaf Ahmed Al Habtoor, Chairman of the Al Habtoor Group, gestures during an interview with Reuters in Dubai January 9, 2016. Picture taken January 9, 2016. REUTERS/Ashraf Mohammad - GF20000091080

A word often usedto describe Khalaf Al-Habtoor — founder and chairman of Al-HabtoorGroup, and one of the Middle East's most venerable business leaders — is"forthright."

His tweets, TV broadcasts and public statements all display a quality ofcandid outspokenness rare in senior business leadership in the Arab world.

The grouphas hotel operations in Europe and the US, but the chairman is now looking atSaudi Arabia as a major avenue for expansion, with a multimillion-dollarinvestment project planned for the Kingdom. The opportunities aremind-boggling, he told Arab News.

"I call Saudi Arabia a continent rather than a country. It has historybefore Moses and Abraham," he said.

Al-Habtoor has chosen — in partnership with the Saudi tourism authorities— to back a huge leisure and recreation project outside Riyadh.

It will draw on the successful Habtoor City development in his nativeDubai but on a much bigger scale: Up to 7 million square meters of hotels,restaurants, theaters, retail and residential facilities, and — imagine it —lakes and beaches. "You'll ask me now where does the beach come from in Riyadh.We'll create it," he said.

The project is still at the planning stage and subject to final approvalfrom all parties.

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