Cities from the Arabian desert

Over the last two decades, at a cost of about $60 billion, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has constructed the largest public works projects in history - the new industrial cities of Jubail, on the Gulf, and Yanbu, on the Red Sea, the home of a huge and sophisticated petrochemical industry that claims almost ten percent of the world market.

This important work examines the evolution of the Saudis' capacity to plan such large projects; their creation of the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu, an independent super-agency with the power to cut through red tape and make multi-billion dollar moves on its own; their partnership with Bechtel Corporation and the Ralph M. Parsons Co. in the design and construction of the modern Saudi cities; the roles of entities such as Aramco and the SABIC; and the effects of the Gulf War.