Managing Interdependencies and Disruption Risk in Complex Infrastructure Projects: A Resilience-Based Delivery Model for Saudi Arabia

Infrastructure projects are commonly governed through separate packages, contracts, disciplines and risk registers, although the services they are meant to provide depend on tightly connected technical, organizational and external systems. This separation creates a delivery problem: a component may comply with its specification while a hidden dependency still permits disruption to spread across power, water, communications, access, controls, supply chains or operating organizations. The problem is particularly material in Saudi Arabia, where rapid infrastructure development is occurring alongside heat, water-stress, dust, intense-rainfall and transition risks. This paper asks how project governance can identify, own, control and verify interdependencies so that disruptions do not propagate into unacceptable service loss. It uses a purposive integrative review of peer-reviewed research, international standards and current Saudi policy and regulatory sources. The synthesis produces the Infrastructure Dependency and Resilience Integration Model (IDRIM), a service-led delivery method comprising four analytical layers, six dependency families and a seven-step lifecycle workflow. IDRIM connects critical-service thresholds to system boundaries, failure pathways, interface ownership, option appraisal, procurement, temporary states, integrated commissioning and operational learning. The paper also proposes a dependency and disruption register, evidence requirements at decision gates and a bounded indicator set. Its principal contribution is to reposition interdependency analysis from a specialist study performed beside project controls to an auditable chain of decisions embedded within them. The model is conceptual and requires project-level piloting; it does not claim empirical validation. It nevertheless offers a practical basis for aligning resilient infrastructure delivery with Saudi Arabia's transformation agenda, codes, climate commitments and asset-management responsibilities.