diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/gdal/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/gdal/default.nix
index 07f370b4210..eb8f17980c2 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/gdal/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/gdal/default.nix
@@ -59,6 +59,8 @@ composableDerivation.composableDerivation {} (fixed: rec {
     wrapPythonPrograms
   '';
 
+  enableParallelBuilding = true;
+
   meta = {
     description = "Translator library for raster geospatial data formats";
     homepage = http://www.gdal.org/;