Saudi Arabia’s Economic Overhaul Claims a Victim

At a Riyadh office of construction giant Saudi Oger Ltd., dust covers the desks, cigarette butts and empty water bottles litter the floor, and the mailbox is stuffed with crumpled envelopes. The parking lot of another Oger facility a mile away is barricaded and filled with trash. And at headquarters, a few blocks farther west, a lone administrator is left to handle the concerns of angry workers.

Oger has long been one of Saudi Arabia’s top-two builders, a behemoth behind projects such as the 492-room Ritz-Carlton hotel in Riyadh, the sprawling campus of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology on the Red Sea coast, and a quartet of power plants that supply oil giant Saudi Aramco. But in July, Oger shut down after years of mismanagement and the departure of top executives, leaving behind thousands of unpaid workers—typically immigrants whose residency permits are tied to their jobs—and at least $3.5 billion of debt, according to people familiar with the matter.