Risk Management Frameworks for Regional Development Projects: Lessons from Saudi Vision 2030 Giga-Project Environments

Abstract

Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 has repositioned regional development as a national transformation instrument, with giga-projects acting simultaneously as infrastructure programs, investment platforms, tourism destinations and social reform laboratories. Their scale creates value, but it also concentrates strategic, financial, environmental, social, procurement and interface risks that cannot be managed through linear construction controls alone. This review develops an integrated risk management framework for regional development projects in Saudi Vision 2030 giga-project environments. Drawing on literature from 2020 to 2025, policy reports and project-governance standards, the paper synthesizes lessons from megaproject governance, construction risk, resilient safety management, sustainable infrastructure and portfolio delivery. The methodology follows an integrative review design using keyword-based database screening, thematic coding and framework synthesis. The analysis identifies six recurring risk clusters: strategic alignment and scope volatility; finance, inflation and market exposure; procurement and supply-chain fragility; design-interface and systems integration; environmental, social and heritage legitimacy; and workforce, safety and capability maturity. The proposed framework links these clusters to four governance layers: national portfolio steering, project owner capability, collaborative delivery ecosystems and digital risk intelligence. The paper argues that giga-project risk management should shift from compliance registers toward adaptive assurance, scenario-based decision gates, transparent stakeholder engagement and continuous learning. Its contribution is a context-specific model that aligns risk practices with Saudi Vision 2030's regional development objectives while preserving accountability, sustainability and public value.