Floods frequently hit Saudi Arabia, leaving dozens of victims across the Kingdom. However, no real measures were taken to develop the Kingdom’s drainage system and confront the massive flash floods. At the same time, thousands of billions are spent on megacity projects as part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS)’s 2030 vision.
Flash floods have caused problems in the Kingdom for decades, where fingers were pointed on corrupt municipal contracting.
Saudi Arabia’s Asir region has recently witnessed heavy rainfall resulted in massive floods. Several vehicles were washed away while roads were collapsed.
Muhayil Gov. decided to close all schools following the heavy rainstorms amid severe weather warning.
The heavy and torrential rains caused severe homes and sites to collapse, sweeping away vehicles.
Schools shut in Tabuk, Arar and Al-Jouf because of flooding and there was low visibility in Riyadh among other places.
For its part, the Saudi Civil Defense urged citizens to take caution, and avoid going near valleys that could threaten their safety, siting it as a violation with a fine up to 10,000 riyals.
Mayor of Muhayil Saeed bin Ali Hafez reported some violations that exacerbated the disaster, causing serious material damage.
MBS Ignores Disastrous Infrastructure
This came while Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund pursued investments in an industry long favored by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman: video games.
MBS is planing to jointly fund up to 800 billion won ($591 million) for Kakao Entertainment Corp’s initial public offering due next year.
The talks follow Saudi Crown Prince’s much-anticipated visit to Seoul last week.
Kakao Entertainment is considering a New York IPO for 2022 with an $18 billion valuation, the company’s top executive told Bloomberg last year, though the timeline now looks uncertain.
The advance still barely made a dent in the downtrend as Kakao Corp. is down nearly 50% for the year, while Kakao Games Corp. has lost more than half its value.
Billions of dollars on video gaming
Last year, Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund pursued investments in an industry long favored by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman: video games.
Other media reports earlier revealed that the Riyadh-based Public Investment Fund acquired more than $3 billion worth of stock in three U.S. video-game makers during the fourth quarter, according to a regulatory filing. They include Activision Blizzard Inc., Electronic Arts Inc. and Take-Two Interactive Software Inc.
The sovereign wealth fund acquired 14.9 million Activision shares with a market value of almost $1.4 billion during the fourth quarter, according to a Form 13F filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Its other purchases included 7.4 million Electronic Arts shares and 3.9 million Take-Two shares worth about $1.1 billion and $826 million, respectively, at the end of December.
