Diriyah Gate Development Authority Undergoes Complete Operational Transformation to Position Diriyah Among World’s Most Important and Renowned Heritage Sites

Diriyah Gate Development Authority, since its establishment in 2017, has been implementing large and diverse projects to position Diriyah as a symbol of the national unity stemming from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's longstanding history and a key foundation of the cultural components that help shape the Saudi future.

Diriyah is one of the Kingdom’s most significant historical pillars as it emulates the Kingdom’s historical heritage of over 300 years through an exciting and inspiring experience combining culture, shopping, and leisure for residents, tourists, and visitors.

The CEO of Diriyah Gate Development Authority Jerry Inzerillo stated that the Diriyah Gate Project is one of the most remarkable projects in the Kingdom as it combines the grandeur of history with the joy of tourism, leisure, and shopping, to position the Kingdom as an unparalleled historical, cultural, touristic, and leisure destination. He added that the Diriyah Gate Development Authority strives to increase the nation’s GDP and develop its local content, in addition to providing job opportunities for Saudis by the year 2030.

The COO of the Diriyah Gate Development Authority Faisal Faruqi affirmed that the Authority has achieved major milestones in line with its ambitions through a complete transformation of its operations, including utilizing automation to ensure the accuracy and efficiency of its operations. The latter is done to fulfill its principal objective within Vision 2030, which aims to position Diriyah among the ranks of the most important and renowned heritage sites in the world. In enhancing its internal operations, the Authority has complied with the best international and regional practices while prioritizing its main internal duties, including financing, procurement, project management, spending efficiency, procedures, automation, municipal services, operations, and asset and facility management.

The Authority has designed its policies and operations in such a way as to avoid any overlap or repetition while maintaining quality and efficiency. By following this approach, it has managed to achieve remarkable performance levels, reinforcing the concept of constant development of the workflow adopted by the Authority since its establishment. This has also fostered an organizational structure reliant on the efficiency of its systems, strategies, policies, and operations, leading to the maximization of institutional efficiency.

The Authority has also included a strategy to achieve the most efficient financial standards. It has been identifying the best available opportunities and means of cooperation in direct coordination with relevant entities, in addition to empowering its leaders to implement the strategy in line with the specific standards established to evaluate the efforts of all its teams, through in-depth studies of the scope of work of the projects and services provided.

The Authority’s efforts have culminated with its winning the Institutional Excellence Award in the government authorities/institutions/centers category, surpassing 400 entities. This achievement, despite the Authority’s recent establishment, reflects its institutional excellence in developing the largest heritage and culture destination in the world in line with the best local and international practices and methodologies. The award’s criteria were based on the Pillars of Spending Sustainability Program, which strives to raise readiness to achieve self-efficiency and sustainable spending in accordance with the international and local best practices without affecting the quality of services provided.

Once completed, the Diriyah Gate Development Project will be an international culture and heritage destination comprising a group of cultural, leisure, commercial, hotel, educational, institutional, and residential areas, including several hotels and a diverse range of museums and cultural institutions as well as commercial markets.