New Economic Cities

Overview
At a cost of more than $60 billion, the Kingdom has planned and begun constructing four metropolitan marvels—a project that promises to significantly alter the economic landscape of Saudi Arabia while providing a wealth of Greenfield opportunities to investors.

SAGIA has launched four integrated Economic Cities, located in Rabigh (King Abdullah Economic City), Hail (Prince AbdulAziz bin Mousaed Economic City), Madinah (Knowledge Economic City) and Jazan (Jazan Economic City).

The objectives of the Economic Cities are to:

• Promote balanced regional development
• Achieve economic diversification
• Create jobs
• Upgrade competitiveness

SAGIA’s vision for the Economic Cities is to contribute more than US$150 billion in annual GDP, to create over a million jobs, and to become home to 4-5 million residents by 2020. Serving the wide-ranging needs of these large communities will require immense private-sector involvement. Fully utilizing their commercial and industrial potential will offer even greater opportunities for investment.

Built on specially selected “Greenfield” sites and strategically located around the Kingdom to utilize regional strengths, these cities will feature modern building design and will make use of the most advanced digital backbone and world-class services and infrastructure. The Economic Cities are being developed based on smart design principles, with the most advanced infrastructure and ubiquitous connectivity. These built-in advantages, combined with attractive investment incentives and a supportive regulatory environment, will create significant competitive advantages to businesses operating assets in the Cities.

In addition to the industrial dimension of the Cities, quality of life is a central design consideration. Education, healthcare and entertainment will be of the highest international standard, so that the quality of living and working in the Economic Cities will be truly world-class.

The Economic Cities are best viewed, not as “free zones” or “industrial parks,” but rather as modern day metropolises planned to perfection and designed to accommodate your life, in both work and play.

SAGIA is working with leading environmental institutions to ensure that the Economic Cities are developed with the environment in mind.  SAGIA aims to position the Economic Cities as global environmental leaders by using Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) to minimize negative environmental impacts and promote energy efficiency and sustainable development.

The Economic Cities will offer those who live and work there an excellent, low-pollution environment with high-quality housing, modern amenities, excellent sports and recreational facilities and world-class specialist healthcare. International schools will offer global curricula for workers’ children from all over the world, while luxurious malls will offer shops and restaurants featuring the finest goods and food from around the globe.  The Economic Cities will therefore offer unparalleled standards of living in the Kingdom and are designed to provide a welcome comfort zone for modern businesspeople and their families.

Informed by meticulous study of the world’s 60 most successful free economic zones, the Economic Cities concept was designed to improve upon existing models. Driven by innovation public-private partnerships, the Economic Cities are comprehensive, fully integrated developments designed with “living, work and play” in mind. They are not zones, but cities. The result will be a set of beautiful, livable metropolitan centers that leverage the Kingdom’s strengths and maximize competitive advantages for businesses located here.

Saudi Economic Cities

_____________	King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) is the single largest private sector project in the region developed by Emaar, The Economic City. It is expected to usher in a new era of economic prosperity for Saudi Arabia and has the potential to create one million jobs and be home to two million residents.
_____________	Jazan Economic City (JEC) Located 725 km south of Jeddah and covering 100 million sq m Jazan Economic City is expected to attract more than SR100bn in investment and create some 500,000 new jobs. The city includes a seaport, an industrial zone, a commercial business district, residential areas, public amenities such as hospitals and schools, as well as other academic and vocational training institutions.
_____________	Prince AbdulAziz bin Mousaed Economic City (PABMEC) Prince AbdulAziz Bin Mousaed Economic City is set to become the largest transportation and logistics hub in the Middle East. Built on 156,000,000 sq m, PABMEC’S core Master Development Plan will incorporate a cluster-based development comprising of transportation, logistics and supply chain centers.
_____________	Knowledge Economic City (KEC) Knowledge Economic City will be developed on a 4.8 million m sq. land while the built up area will near 9 million m sq. attracting SR25bn worth of investments. The project will add 20,000 new jobs to the region.