PROJECTS: Saudi’s JCDC awards development contract for first phase of $20bln Jeddah Central project

PROJECTS: Saudi’s JCDC awards development contract for first phase of $20bln Jeddah Central project

Saudi Arabia's Jeddah Central Development Company (JCDC), a wholly-owned company of Public Investment Fund (PIF) has signed a development contract with Modern Building Leaders (MBL) for its 75 billion Saudi riyal ($20.4 billion) Jeddah Central Project.

The mega project, previously known as New Jeddah Downtown, is being developed on a 5.7 million square metre (sqm) of land overlooking the Red Sea.

The contract marks the beginning of the project’s first phase between Al-Salam Royal Palace and water desalination plant, JCDC said in a press statement.

Contract terms include:

- Demolition of nearly 400 buildings within the city’s existing infrastructure.

- Redirection of water, electric, and waste management infrastructure services across 6.5 km.

- Dredging works, marine drilling, and backfilling using the same drilled materials (estimated to amount to 4 million cubic metres).

- Soil testing, and construction site preparation across a 1.5-sqm area.

- 2.5 km of sea berths and yacht marinas, floating berths within the marina and 1.5 km of waterfront berths.

- Outfitting city’s public and private beaches with modern new facilities.

The statement said the project, consisting of three phases, aims to develop a global destination in the heart of Jeddah while maintaining and enhancing the city’s coastal and marine sites, including a 9.5-km shoreline, 2.1 km