|
King Abdullah Economic City
(KAEC) in Saudi Arabia is the single largest private sector project in the
region developed by Emaar the Economic City (Emaar.E.C), a Tadawul-listed
company.
KAEC is expected to usher in a new
era of economic prosperity for Saudi Arabia and has the potential to create
one million jobs and be home to 2 million residents.
With a total development area of
168 million square meters, the City is strategically located between the
two Holy Cities of Makkah and Madina and the commercial hub of Jeddah.
The City is divided into six
distinctive components: the Sea Port, Industrial Zone, Central Business
District (mixed use zone including commercial, hotel, retail and Financial
Island), Resort District, Educational Zone and Residential Communities
(including corniche and souks).
Facilities include a Grand
Mosque, community centers, parks and recreational areas, shopping and
commercial centres, healthcare centres, schools and a stadium at the
University that can seat 45,000.
KAEC will feature 4.5 million sq
m of parks and wadis that will add to the aesthetic appeal provided by 42
linear km of canals, offering 75 km of pedestrian promenade.
Beach boardwalks or seawater
lagoons stretch over 11 km and residents can look forward to 14 km of
natural beaches fronting the Red Sea. For the marine enthusiasts, KAEC will
have five yacht clubs that can berth more than 3,000 vessels. City-wide,
there are 11,000 hotel rooms in 70 hotels, with 8.7 million sq.m of
retailing facilities, spread over 58,000 individual shops.
SAGIA (Saudi Arabian General
Investment Authority), the apex body responsible for inward investments
into the Kingdom, is the prime facilitator for the development.
Components
1. Seaport
·
Covering
13.8 million square metres
·
Strategic
location on the Red Sea and instant access to key cities
·
Largest
in the region with a capacity to handle over 10 million TEU
·
Equipped
to receive the world’s largest mega vessels
·
Integrated
transport system to land to sea to air
·
Utilize
global positioning technologies, advanced information management systems
and automation
Hajj
Terminal
·
Purpose
built with capacity to receive over 300,000 pilgrims every season
·
Complete
with adjoining hotels, medical centres and world-class amenities
2. Industrial District
·
Covering
over 63 million square metres
·
4,400
net hectares of land dedicated to industrial, plastics conversion
industries and light manufacturing facilities
·
Designed
solely with the needs of manufacturers in mind
·
To
host over 2,500 industrialists and manufacturers
·
Choice
of premises constructed to the highest specifications or to build from the
ground-up on a fully serviced site
·
Transport
links and a full set of amenities, including homes for employees and their
families. Integrated worker housing, within walking distance to Industrial
tenants.
·
Incubators,
light industrial modules to encourage start-up local entrepreneurs
3. Central Business
District
·
3.8 million sq m of office space and mixed-use
components
·
Waterfront
cafes, conference centers, hotels and cultural centers
·
400,000
sq m of retail space
·
Financial
District
·
With
an iconic 125-storey tower, the largest regional financial nerve centre
4. Educational Zone
·
Targeted
University population of 20,000 higher education students attending several
major institutions integrated with the city fabric with neighboring private
sector research & development facilities.
·
Complete
range of educational institutions catering to a many technical and academic
programs, ages and needs.
·
Supporting
Libraries, ICT Infrastructure and Recreational Buildings
5. Resort District
·
Waterfront
hotels, stylish boutique residences and luxury resort complexes
·
3,000
resort-style hotel rooms in twelve 4 & 5-Star beachfront hotel
properties.
·
Vast
choice of retail and fine dining
·
Two
signature 18-hole golf courses and leisure complex
·
The
ultimate destination for fishing, sailing, waterskiing and scuba diving
6. Residential
·
Total
of 260,000 apartments and 56,000 villas in three major community types
·
Town
Centre - host of shops, leisure amenities and luxury apartment living;
blending modern and traditional architectural styles; Souq; and Grand Mosque
set amidst landscaped gardens
·
Corniche
- surrounds a marina and yacht club with 3,000 moorings; offers a wealth of
restaurants, cafes and luxury retail outlets.
·
Residential
Island - waterside villas offering direct waterside access and mooring.
(Source: Saudi Arabian General
Investment Authority’s Website,
| 
