There’s ‘tremendous’ potential for city planning in the Middle East, says infrastructure exec

There’s great potential in the areas of urban and city planning in the Middle East, said the chief executive of Singapore-based urban and infrastructure consultancy Surbana Jurong on Thursday.

The Middle East has been forward-looking when it comes to unusual property developments, Wong Heang Fine told CNBC’s “Capital Connection.”

“They are very acceptable to great ideas. That’s why you look at the Middle East, there are a lot of great iconic buildings, a lot of unusual type of developments … So the Middle East represents a tremendous market potential for us,” he said.

He added that the Middle East and South Asia regions represent between 10 to 15 percent of his firm’s total revenue.

With technology advances, the usual ways that cities are planned will also be transformed.

For instance, with driverless cars, there is less demand for parking — freeing up more land. There are also co-working spaces to be built as more people make their living there, Wong said.