Diriyah Gate Development Authority

Diriyah Gate Development Authority is the entity responsible for the development and preservation of the historical Diriyah site, northwest of Riyadh, the capital of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Its responsibilities comprise serving the local community and promoting the position of Diriyah as an international tourist destination and one of the largest and most prominent venues for events and activities worldwide. The authority was established in 2017 for the development of Diriyah: the jewel of the Kingdom, an important historical site, and the capital of the First Saudi State.

In 2019, the authority inaugurated the Diriyah Gate Project to become a heritage and culture-based global tourist destination. The project encompasses around thirty-eight global hotels, twenty cultural landmarks, one hundred restaurants, and 3,100 hotel rooms, in addition to five outdoor yards and four sports and entertainment courts. The Diriyah Gate Project is the largest heritage and cultural project globally for the rehabilitation and development of Historical Diriyah, also known as the Jewel of the Kingdom, at a value of SAR64 billion.

The project's first phase, supervised by the authority, covers the development of al-Bujairi District following the most prominent and latest global environmental and urban standards for the rehabilitation of heritage and historical sites. It also aims to offer an exceptional lifestyle for tourists, guests, and visitors from the Kingdom and abroad. The project represents a new era for construction projects, architecture and traditional design, and global hospitality.

The Diriyah Gate Project aims to attract twenty-five million visitors and tourists annually from the Kingdom and abroad through its various planned entertainment projects and events as well as attracting international artistic and cultural events. Diriyah Gate Development Authority oversees the development of a site spanning 190 km.

The importance of Diriyah lies in its establishment on the banks of Wadi Hanifa in 1446, then becoming the capital of the First Saudi State in 1727, a turning point in the history of the Arabian Peninsula in particular and Arab and Islamic history in general.

Diriyah Gate Development Authority has several roles, including the urban, economic, social, and cultural development of Diriyah Gate, in addition to meeting its needs in terms of public facilities and services, ensuring its evolution and development, and furthering its status in the future.

Key mandates of the authority include engaging planning and studies centers for devising plans for the execution of the development of Diriyah Gate. They also encompass following up on planning in terms of the essentially required infrastructure, following up on execution upon coordination with the competent agencies, establishing companies or contributing thereto, and establishing investment and endowment funds, thus ensuring that the authority carries out its tasks and fulfills its purpose.

Diriyah Gate Development Authority has a public legal personality. It enjoys administrative autonomy in carrying out its tasks and has an independent annual budget. It reports to the chairman of the Council of Economic and Development Affairs. Its board of directors, chaired by His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed Bin Salman Bin Abdulaziz, crown prince, manages the affairs of the authority and runs its work.

The authority runs its work from its headquarters, a few kilometers from the heritage districts' site in Historical Diriyah, located in Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz Street, al-Shuhada' Neighborhood, Diriyah, in the capital, Riyadh.