SAUDI Arabia’s $40 billion Sudair City industrial project is a step closer with contractors having submitted bids for the first stage of the massive project, which will be the largest development of its type in the kingdom, exceeding Emaar’s King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC).

The Saudi Industrial Property Authority (Modon) will now review proposals for the initial phase of the project on the outskirts of Riyadh, which is worth $1 billion and will include warehouses, offices, residential buildings and possibly a hotel.
Construction is expected to begin within months and to be completed by the end of 2012. Modon will develop this phase.
Details of the masterplan – which is being designed by Singapore’s Jurong International, a construction consultancy firm – have not been officially released, but plans are understood to include a mix of commercial, industrial, residential, technological, and sport and leisure components.
Sudair City is one of a number of purpose-built industrial cities planned in Saudi Arabia as it diversifies its economy away from oil and develops projects to provide jobs for a young and growing population.
Tawfig Al Rabiah, the director general of Modon, said the project would be financed by the Saudi government. Sub-developers will also be appointed to develop the remaining phases of Sudair City, which will cover 258 sq km.
A contractor was hired in November to build electricity networks and substations for the first phase of the project.
Sudair City, which is expected to accommodate up to a million people, is aimed at easing congestion and reducing migration to Riyadh. The development is also expected to be supported by the north-south railway, a 2,400-km network under construction in the kingdom, and an airport.
Other multi-billion-dollar economic cities under development include the Knowledge Economic City in Madinah, the Prince Abdulaziz Bin Mousaed Economic City in Hail and the Jazan Economic City, south of Jeddah. Emaar Properties, the Dubai-based developer, is helping to build KAEC on the Red Sea coast through its Saudi unit.