Knowledge Economic City, Saudi Arabia announced in a statement that the Company has signed three additional initial agreements with China Gezhouba International Engineering Group Company (CGGC) to initiate the arrangements towards the execution of some of the projects outlined in the first agreement signed between the two parties last June.

The new agreements determine the estimated project cost, payment schedule, cost settlement mechanism, provided the final contracts cost will be determined later and agreed upon certain conditions identification such as project detailed design, materials and equipment. The respected projects are:

1) Al-Alya Project: The agreement for construction, material supply and finishing as general contractor for the project.

Al-Alya is a mixed-use project within a semi-gated community that includes residential, offices, hospitality, retail and knowledge sectors. It was designed to respond to the urban planning of “humanizing of cities” and the quality of life program which adopt green areas and pedestrians aim to creating an attractive lifestyle as part of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030.

Those project components have been designed on 269,000 sqm area with 400,000 sqm as GFA provide a hotel with 120 room keys, around 1,500 residential apartments including 414 serviced apartments and 70 townhouse all are equipped with smart home technology, a mosque, and service areas that include two parcels of offices designed with flexible work spaces linked to the hotel and residences overlooking one kilometer wide park as part of the project objective to benefit from the market demand for high-quality integrated elements as they are connected to other KEC series of parks, open spaces and pedestrians.

It is worth mentioning that the agreement with CGGC adds to the contract signed with Elkhereiji Commerce and Contracting Company to execute the skeleton of the first phase of the residential buildings which provides 264 apartments.

2) The Islamic World District Project (IWD) – Phase I: The agreement for construction, material supply and finishing as general contractor for the project.

The Islamic World District – IWD all phases planned to occupy the largest plot in south area of KEC with 900,000 sqm designed as one of the other Transit Oriented Development – TOD projects which is connected to the Haramain High Speed Train Station in Madinah through the owned company project, Madinah Gate project currently under development. As a mixed use development the IWD support the objectives of the Ministry of Tourism and the Deyouf Alrahman programs through providing hospitality, entertainment, cultural, knowledge and shopping services in addition to the residential associated with those components that serves the housing programs of the KSA 2030 Vision together with entertainment area, green spaces, museums and shopping areas with the project design simulating the architectural style of a number of Islamic countries and hospitality sector aim at contributing to bridging the gap for hotel room keys in Madinah as part of the KSA 2030 Vision aiming to increasing the number of visitors to 30 million annually as well as serving the housing programs and quality of life program as part of the Vision 2030 in addition to the humanization of cities urban design style providing green spaces, public parks, and pedestrian. It also provides retail, restaurants, and an interactive museum. The project is linked internally and with other KEC developments through smart mobility transportation. Upon completion of all IWD project phases, it will provide around 14,000 hotel room keys and 1,800 residential apartments in addition to the retail areas and other components.

The first phase of the Islamic World Avenue project, for which the preliminary agreement was signed, includes a multi-use destination with a chain of hotels providing about (5,061) hotel units, residential apartments with (743) apartments, a market, a service area and support elements.

3) The Islamic World District Project (IWD) – Phase I: The agreement for Infrastructure Work:

The agreement is concerned with the development of infrastructure contracting work for the first phase of the project, including the supply of materials and equipment.

The new initial agreements signed outlined the initial cost of the agreements projects as US$970million of which US$400M related to Al-Alya project and US$570M related to Islamic World District Phase I whereby the final contracts cost and financial impact will be later determined contingent the finalization of number of engineering details and other related steps.