Saudi Arabia’s National Housing Company (NHC) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with South Korea’s GS Engineering & Construction to build a residential project in NHC’s Al‑Fursan suburb of Riyadh.

The MoU was signed in Seoul earlier this week by Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs and Housing, Majed Al‑Hogail, and NHC’s CEO, Mohammed Al‑Buty.

In an official statement published by the Saudi Press Agency, NHC said: “The MoU extends the growing Saudi-Korean partnerships, strengthened by the signing of another MoU in November 2024 to develop the Balady Platform and implement digital twins and smart city applications, contributing to urban planning development and improved quality of life.”

This is the second major project agreement NHC has signed for residential development within the Al‑Fursan district.

In March last year, NHC and Egyptian real estate developer Talaat Moustafa Group signed an agreement to develop more than 27,000 residential units at NHC’s Banan City project in the Al‑Fursan suburb.

The project will cover an area of 10 million square metres and include hospitals, schools, retail, sports facilities and other public amenities.

In 2023, NHC and Saudi Arabia’s Housing Ministry signed investment agreements totalling more than SR24bn ($6.4bn) to launch the Al-Fursan residential project.

Al‑Fursan is described as the largest scheme in terms of area and number of housing units that NHC is implementing in partnership with other real estate developers.

For the district’s first phase, 18 real estate development agreements were signed with companies including Retal Urban Development Company and Sumou Real Estate Company.

NHC also signed four consultancy contracts to manage projects and supervise implementation of phase one and the deployment of comprehensive infrastructure works.

Other deals involved the development of facilities, including commercial and recreational areas, hospitals, health and sports centres, mosques and schools.

MEED reported in 2020 that Riyadh planned to oversee the development of more than 1 million homes by 2025 to meet growing demand in the kingdom.

By 2030, the Saudi capital aims to more than double its population, from 7-8 million to 15-20 million, and become one of the 10 wealthiest cities in the world.