Issues Associated with Conducting an Air Quality Assessment for a New City in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

摘要

Like many nations in the Middle East, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is attempting to diversify itseconomy beyond one that historically has been so dependent on oil. One of the strategies theSaudis are using is to build cities to create additional manufacturing capacity for the nation, toprovide tourist opportunities within the Kingdom, and ultimately to create a host of newemployment opportunities for the growing Saudi youth.The King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) is currently being built on the western coast ofSaudi Arabia, along the Red Sea1. Planned to be home to several million people, KAEC is slatedto include a university, banking and other financial institutions, as well as various lightindustries. However, its plans also include one of the largest ports in the world as well as asubstantial power plant.During the early stages of the city’s development an environmental assessment was conducted toaddress impacts KAEC would have on the local environment. Included in this assessment wasan air quality study that considered impacts from not only sources within KAEC itself but alsoseveral nearby heavy industries, including one of the largest fossil-fuel fired utilities in the worldand a major petrochemical refining complex.This paper will describe the unique challenges faced and lessons learned in conducting this airquality assessment. For instance, difficulties with creating the emissions inventory, arising fromcertain aspects of the local culture, will be discussed. In addition, insight as to the method bywhich power generation and heavy industry are sited in the Middle East will be presented.Ultimately the paper will present the various approaches developed to ensure the conservativenature of the air quality assessment.