Middle East Business

PIF launches Gulf Coast Development Company to build 16,000 homes and 1,400 hotel keys on the Al-Khafji coast

By Staff Writer  |  8 September 2026

The sovereign fund's new company will develop about 20 square kilometres with a 10 kilometre waterfront on the Arabian Gulf in the north of the Eastern Province, in three phases, with the first three neighbourhoods due for completion in 2030 and the private sector brought in as partner and investor.

Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund launched Gulf Coast Development Company on 7 September 2026 to create an integrated tourism and residential destination on the Al-Khafji coast, overlooking the Arabian Gulf. The fund says the company will develop the project in partnership with the private sector and with local and regional investors, in response to what it describes as rapidly growing demand for accommodation and tourism in the northern part of the Eastern Province.

The development will span around 20 square kilometres and carry a 10 kilometre waterfront along the Gulf. The fund says Al-Khafji Governorate's location gives residents and visitors from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the other Gulf states ready access, and that the project will create direct and indirect opportunities for the local community.

On completion the destination is to comprise eight residential neighbourhoods with more than 16,000 housing units, around 1,400 hotel keys, public commercial, tourism and educational facilities, and dedicated boat marinas.

Three phases from 2030

Development is to unfold in three phases. The first, scheduled for completion in 2030, will deliver three of the eight neighbourhoods and is intended to set the foundation for the wider community. No dates have been given for the second and third phases.

The company sits inside what the fund calls its Urban Development and Livability ecosystem, one of six new ecosystems set out in its 2026 to 2030 strategy. Within that ecosystem the fund says it is investing in real estate in partnership with the private sector, with the stated aims of long-term value, urban innovation and cities built around residents.

Through its local real estate projects, PIF continues to unlock the potential of strategic sectors, deepen their integration within the six ecosystems outlined in PIF's 2026-2030 strategy, and strengthen the private sector's role as an effective partner in economic growth. Gulf Coast Development Company will capitalize on Al-Khafji's cultural and logistical advantages. The company's project will generate new opportunities for the region's residents, upgrade the city's infrastructure and deepen private sector partnerships that maximize value and deliver sustainable returns.

Saad Alkroud, Head of Local Real Estate Investments at the Public Investment Fund

What this means for the supply chain

The fund's announcement describes a project company rather than a contract. On the desk's reading, a 2030 completion for three neighbourhoods on a site of this size implies that master planning and design appointments and the first infrastructure and enabling packages will need to be let within the next two years, and the fund's stated intention to bring in private partners and investors points to plot-level developers following once the infrastructure is in place. None of that sequencing has been announced.

The fund says its investments strengthen local development by diversifying the economy, generating new opportunities and expanding trade and investment, and that they increase the attractiveness of urban centres and enable the transfer of expertise across sectors. It has not said whether Gulf Coast Development Company will itself act as master developer for the whole site or will sell serviced plots to others.

What has not been stated

Neither the fund's statement nor the reports carrying it gives a capital value for the project, a master planner, a design consultant, a contractor, the size of any first package, the procurement route, or the split of investment between the fund and its private partners. The names of the local and regional investors have not been given. Those points cannot be filled in from the material published so far and are left open here.