Building a new Riyadh

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Saudi Binladin is working on four mixed use parcels which include two towers, 88m and 133m, a 26-storey office building and several low-rise buildings. They have signed US architects FX-Fowle to work on the project as part of the design and build contract team. (George Dipin/ITP Images)

Unaffected by the global economic downturn, Saudi Arabia is furiously constructing its King Abdullah Financial District, a project destined to become a new city centre for Riyadh. Now with a mere 30 months left to finish the bulk of the work, the pace is fast and the challenge immense.

When Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud takes a keen personal interest in the success of a particular project, you can almost guarantee it will be seen through to completion without delay.

Such is the case with the US $10 billion (SR37.5 billion) King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD), a project which not only bears his name, but will send a definitive signal to the rest of the world that the kingdom is well on its way to modernity.

As the epicentre of Saudi Arabia’s burgeoning financial services sector, KAFD is expected to redefine Riyadh from the nation’s rather boring administrative capital to a sleek business and entertainment hub.

Centrally located on Riyadh’s King Fahd Highway, the development will feature more than 40 towers with all the facilities, amenities, utilities and transport networks you would come to expect in a well-designed city of the 21st century.

The catch, is that the majority of this 1.6 million m² project is to be constructed in just 3.5 years; and with King Abdullah receiving regular progress reports, those involved know the pressure is on to deliver.

The company in charge is Rayadah Investment, an arm of the government’s Public Pensions Agency (PPA), which aside from taking care of social security is also charged with investing huge sums of money in real estate development.

After finalising a master plan design by Denmark’s Henning Larsen, Rayadah awarded four design and build contracts for the first 10 parcels of land. Saudi Binladin Group picked up four mixed-use parcels, while Saudi Construction, El Seif Engineering and Saudi Oger each, picked up two.

Construction started last November and with a fast-tracked contract period of 30 months this first stage is expected to finish around mid 2011.

Meanwhile, Rayadah is on the verge of awarding stage two - a multi-billion dollar design and build contract for another 30 parcels, which will make up “the bulk of the project” says Rayadah’s project manager Waleed Aleisa.

“It will probably be awarded late September or early October. We’ll most likely go with one contractor for the whole thing because we want to make sure there are no conflicting logistical problems.”

Under the fast tracked contract 27 of the 30 parcels are expected to be finished in just 30 months, which gives a deadline of around mid 2012. Aleisa won’t divulge who is in the running for the massive award, but says it is three of Saudi Arabia’s biggest contractors which are “capable of pulling it off.”

While Rayadah is developing the vast majority of KAFD itself, four of the most central parcels will be developed by sub-developers including the Capital Market Authority (CMA), the Saudi stock exchange Tadawul, Samba Bank and Al Rajhi Bank.

Each is constructing its own tower in KAFD’s financial plaza with CMA and Tadawul having the two tallest in the development respectively. They will each have to adhere to stringent design criteria laid down by Rayadah as well as stick to the same deadline.

Overall it’s expected that by mid-2012 around 70% of KAFD will be built out, with the remaining land developed over time according to demand.

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