Saudi Arabia delays completion date for New Murabba to 2040

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund is pushing the deadline forward 10 years for New Murabba, one of its flagship mega-projects for redeveloping the kingdom’s sprawling capital city of Riyadh.

Facing growing deficits and falling oil prices, executives at the sovereign wealth fund say the massive new business, entertainment and residential development won’t be finished until 2040, a decade past the completion date earlier projected, Arabian Gulf Business Insights reports.

Still on schedule, however, is the project’s striking centerpiece known as the Mukaab, a 400-meter-high (1,300-foot), cube-shaped tower housing a shopping mall, hotels, restaurants and residential buildings.

According to the revised schedule, New Murabba should be able to complete construction of a 45,000-seat soccer stadium in time for Saudi Arabia hosting the 2034 World Cup.