Riyadh, Saudi Arabia — The Honourable Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Arc. Ahmed Musa Dangiwa, has led a Nigerian housing delegation on a strategic courtesy and technical visit to the New Murabba Development Company Office in Riyadh, following Nigeria’s participation at the 2026 Real Estate Future Forum.
The delegation comprised the Managing Director of Family Homes Funds Limited, Mr. Abdul Mutallab Mukhtar, senior officials of the Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, and a group of private sector real estate developers, as part of Nigeria’s broader investor engagement and global knowledge-exchange drive in housing and urban development.
The Nigerian delegation was received by the senior management team of New Murabba, led by its Chief Executive Officer, Michael Dyke, who provided an in-depth briefing on the vision, scale, governance model, financing architecture, and phased delivery strategy of the New Murabba project—one of the largest and most ambitious urban development initiatives currently underway in the Middle East.
New Murabba is a flagship downtown city project located in northwest Riyadh and developed under Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 framework. The project covers approximately 19 square kilometres and is planned to deliver over 25 million square metres of built-up floor area upon completion.
The master-planned city is designed to accommodate:
- Over 100,000 residential units
- More than 9,000 hotel rooms
- Large-scale office, retail, leisure, and community facilities
- Extensive public realm and green spaces integrated into the urban fabric
At the centre of the development is The Mukaab, an iconic cubic structure measuring approximately 400 metres on each side, envisioned as a global destination combining immersive digital experiences, cultural attractions, hospitality, and commercial uses. The project is being delivered through a tightly coordinated institutional framework, blending public leadership with private sector execution and long-term capital mobilisation.
Discussions during the visit focused on:
- Delivery of large-scale, master-planned cities
- Integrated infrastructure and land-use planning
- Innovative financing and investment structures
- Public-Private Partnership (PPP) models
- Institutional coordination and risk-sharing frameworks
- Phased development strategies to manage scale and complexity
Speaking during the engagement, Arc. Dangiwa said Nigeria is deliberately engaging global best-practice projects to strengthen its housing and urban development delivery systems.
“Nigeria’s Renewed Hope Housing Programme is focused on scale, structure, and sustainability. Visiting New Murabba provides a clear, practical example of how large, complex cities can be planned, financed, governed, and delivered in a coordinated way,” the Minister said.
“We are particularly interested in how strong public institutions work with private developers, how risks are shared, and how delivery discipline is maintained across such a large development footprint. These lessons are highly relevant as Nigeria scales housing delivery, urban renewal, and new city development,” he added.
In his remarks, New Murabba CEO, Michael Dyke, welcomed the Nigerian delegation and highlighted the value of international technical exchange.
“New Murabba is being developed as a future-ready downtown anchored on integrated planning, long-term investment thinking, and strong governance. We are pleased to engage with Nigeria’s housing leadership and explore areas of continued dialogue and technical exchange, particularly with fast-growing economies facing similar urbanisation pressures,” Dyke said.
The Managing Director of Family Homes Funds Limited also underscored the relevance of New Murabba’s delivery approach to Nigeria’s social and affordable housing objectives, noting the importance of financing innovation, phased delivery, and alignment between public policy and private execution.
The visit concluded with mutual expressions of interest in continued engagement, structured technical knowledge exchange, and exploration of potential areas of collaboration between Nigerian housing institutions, private developers, and Saudi-based development partners.
The engagement forms part of Nigeria’s broader strategy to translate insights from the 2026 Real Estate Future Forum into practical reforms, scalable partnerships, and measurable delivery outcomes under the Renewed Hope Agenda.
Signed
Mark Chieshe
Special Assistant Media and Strategy to Hon Minister
