Saudi Arabia signs three construction and housing deals worth $4.4 bln

Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Housing has signed three agreements worth $4.4 billion to build new residential units across the Kingdom, the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA) announced on Thursday.

The first deal was a SAR 10 billion memorandum signed between China’s PowerChina International Group, the Saudi Ministry of Housing, and National Housing Company to build 17,000 homes over the next six years in the Al Asfar project.

The final approval required for the project will be obtained soon, Housing Minister Majid Al-Hugail told Argaam on the sidelines of the Future Investment Initiative (FII) 2018 in Riyadh.

The second contract was inked between US-based Katerra Inc., a construction-tech startup owned by Japan’s SoftBank, and Eskan Program to introduce modern and rapid construction methods in the Kingdom.

The last deal was concluded with SANY-Alameriah, a Chinese-Saudi alliance, and the Sakani program to build 4,700 new residential units in Jeddah at a total investment of SAR 4.08 billion on the Telal Alghoroob project.

The government has dedicated a budget of $15 billion towards housing development for the next five years, with more than one million housing units expected to be built during that period, said a statement from Center of International Communication (CIC).