Emaar EC to speed up development pace on new strategy, says CEO

Cyril Piaia, CEO of Emaar The Economic City

King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) under its new strategy seeks to work as an enabler and facilitator for investors and third-party developers to help them benefit from the city’s existing infrastructure, Cyril Piaia, CEO of Emaar The Economic City (Emaar EC), told Arab News in an interview.

“If I do everything myself, I will be limited by my own capital, I will do one project slowly after the other. On the contrary, if I shared the business with third-party developers, I can develop the city on a fast-track mode,” Piaia said.

He attributed this change in approach to KAEC’s partnership with the Public Investment Fund (PIF).

Partnering with PIF will strengthen the status of the city in several ways. When the PIF invests in a project, “this is not for the short term, this is for the long term. This is actually bringing the stability that we need to develop our city,” he said.

At present, KAEC’s main focus is to leverage on a special economic zone that combines its industrial valley with a port.

This project will be an added value for KAEC as it would help attract leading investors to carry out operations in the city.

Speaking of the agreement with Lucid, Piaia said that KAEC is in talks with another manufacturer to establish operations in the city.

In September 2021, Emaar EC’s shareholders approved the board’s recommendation on increasing capital through converting SAR 2.83 billion in debt owed by the company to the PIF, Argaam earlier reported.