Riyadh, Riyadh Province, Saudi Arabia
KAFD Skywalk Network
The KAFD Skywalk Network is a 15.46 km system of 42 climate-controlled elevated skywalks joining the 95 buildings of the King Abdullah Financial District in Riyadh. Guinness World Records lists it as the largest continuous pedestrian skyway network. The whole district, skywalks included, is owned and managed by a single company, KAFD DMC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund.
Governance
Who owns it, who runs it, what the rules are.
- Owner
- KAFD DMC, a wholly owned subsidiary of the sovereign Public Investment Fund, owns and manages the district, including the skywalks and the buildings they connect. The owner is a state-owned company operating commercially, so the network is publicly owned but not run by a municipal authority.
- Operator
- King Abdullah Financial District Development and Management Company (KAFD DMC).
- Hours
- No published hours policy found.
- Public right
- KAFD DMC describes the skywalks as serving workers, visitors and residents and linking to the public Metro station. No published rule or ordinance grants a public right of passage, so access rests on the owner's permission.
- Who pays
- No public information found on maintenance budgets. As single owner of the district, KAFD DMC is presumed to fund upkeep, but this is not documented in sources reviewed.
Governing bodies
Open issues
- No public hours, conduct rules or maintenance arrangements have been published for the skywalks.
Timeline
- King Abdullah Financial District is founded on 8 March under the Saudi Public Pension Agency, initially managed by Rayadah Investment Company.[03]
- The Zaha Hadid-designed KAFD Metro station opens in December as an interchange on the Riyadh Metro, linked to the district by skybridge.[04]
- Guinness World Records certifies the network on 5 February as the largest continuous pedestrian skyway network, at 15.46 km.[02]
- KAFD DMC publicly announces the record on 6 July, citing 42 skywalks linking 95 buildings.[01]
- Public operation of KAFD's internal monorail, about 3.5 km with six stations, is scheduled.[03]
The story
The King Abdullah Financial District is a planned business district in northern Riyadh. It was founded in 2007 under the Saudi Public Pension Agency and first managed by Rayadah Investment Company. Its buildings are tied together by an elevated network of glazed, climate-controlled skywalks, so that people can move between offices, homes, shops and the Metro without crossing streets in the desert heat.
In February 2025 Guinness World Records measured the network at 15.46 km and recognised it as the largest continuous pedestrian skyway network. The district's management company announced the record in July 2025. It said the system comprised 42 skywalks joining 95 buildings, built with about 30,000 square metres of glass and more than 3,000 tonnes of steel. Guinness described it as a weather-protected alternative to moving at street level.
Governance is unusually simple. KAFD DMC, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Public Investment Fund, develops and manages the district, so one state-owned company controls the skywalks, the buildings and the land. That arrangement avoids the patchwork of private owners, easements and municipal ordinances found in North American skyway cities. It also means there is no published legal instrument, hours rule or public right of passage.
The skywalks link to the KAFD Metro station, designed by Zaha Hadid Architects, which opened in December 2024 as an interchange on the Riyadh Metro. An internal monorail of about 3.5 km and six stations is scheduled to open to the public in 2027. Public information on operating hours, maintenance funding and conduct rules for the skywalks has not been found.
Questions people ask
How long is the KAFD skywalk in Riyadh?
How many buildings does the KAFD skywalk connect?
Who owns the KAFD skywalks?
Does the KAFD skywalk connect to the Riyadh Metro?
Sources
- KAFD receives prestigious Guinness World Record for the world's largest continuous pedestrian skywalk network — KAFD (2025)primary
- Largest continuous pedestrian skyway network — Guinness World Records (2025)primary
- King Abdullah Financial District — Wikipedia (2026)
- King Abdullah Financial District Metro Station by Zaha Hadid Architects — Dezeen (2024)
About this record
Confidence medium · reviewed 2026-10-19. Length, skywalk count and building count are confirmed by the Guinness record page and KAFD's own release. The Guinness title is 'largest continuous pedestrian skyway network', not 'longest enclosed walkway'. Ownership by PIF via KAFD DMC comes from Wikipedia; PIF's own portfolio page returned 403, so a human should confirm there. A search snippet said KAFD DMC was set up and the district acquired by PIF in 2018; this was not confirmed from a primary page and is left out of the timeline. The Dezeen article returned 403; the December 2024 opening and skybridge link come from its search summary. No hours, access rules, cost or maintenance data were found. Ownership is set to 'public' because the owner is a sovereign-fund subsidiary; 'mixed' could also be argued. Not found: Hours.
Map geometry: 302 corridor features, © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), as of 2026-10-20. Levels come from OpenStreetMap tags and can be incomplete.
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© 2026 Open Civic Intelligence Ventures LLC. Quote with attribution and a link; terms.