KEC Announces Contract Award to Implement Bus Station for SR48.9 mln

The Knowledge Economic City Company (the Company) announced on Sunday the signing of the construction contract award to build the bus station with the retail shops on its land adjacent to the train station with the contractor Mohammed Al-Rashed Trading and Contracting Company. The contract value is SR48,884,225.

The company indicated on Sunday on Tadawul that the execution of the construction contract to develop the land adjacent the Haramain High Speed Train Station from its western side as one of the three components of Madinah Gate project being the first Transit Oriented Development – TOD in Saudi Arabia. The subject contract aims to construct the bus station and the shops facing the main plaza of the train station and directly linked to the main mall of the Madinah Gate project to serve travelers and visitor of Madinah. This development will represent the gateway to Madinah and connection between the train station, the hotel and the main mall, which will be constructed in parallel in the land adjacent to the targeted bus station.

It added that the development will take about 24 months in conjunction with the development of the main mall and the hotel, which is being constructed by the same Contractor and there is no related party.

The company mentioned that the Madinah Gate project is considered as one of the most distinguished projects in the Knowledge Economic City and Madinah in general as it serves the visitors and travelers to Madinah through the train station which are expected to reach 11 million passengers annually by 2028. Therefore, the Company has engaged with international professional consultants specialized in planning and designing such kind of projects in accordance with international standards for the development of Transit Oriented Development on areas linked to train stations.

The design considered the development harmony with the Haramain High Speed Train Station and the adjacent areas of the station design and system required for city planning and TOD requirements qualifying the region to be a distinct urban attraction through focusing on the hospitality, shopping and transportation sectors.

The project has been designed to be directly linked to the train station from the project’s eastern side while from its western side it will be linked to the area overlooking the Prince Nayef Road development. The integration setup between the hospitality, shopping mall and transportation sectors acts as the main pillar of the success of the project development and helps to maximize its impact made by the expected increase in the number of visitors and pilgrims as result of the Kingdom’s ambitious vision for the year 2030.

The company also added that Madinah Gate project consists of three main components in its first phase built on an area of about 22,000 sqm, with a built-up area of 33,000 sqm excluding the car parks and the hotel areas. The first component is the bus station with its retail shops directly connected to the train station, while the second and third components are represented in the 4 stars hotel with its 325 keys operated and managed by Hilton through the Double Tree by Hilton brand, and a mall include retail, shops, restaurants and a recreational area providing a total rental area of up to 22,000 square meters. The hotel and main mall will be developed by Riyad Capital Fund of which KEC owns 75% of its capital. KEC also acts as the development manager for the Madinah Gate project with all three components.

The development of the hotel and the mall has been assigned by Riyad Capital to the same Contractor, “Mohammed Al-Rashed Trading and Contracting Company (MARCO), as an integrated development with the bus station to benefit from the advantages of quality execution, time and cost saving.

This comes with regards to Madinah Gate Project which is currently being developed in the south area of Knowledge Economic City on land adjacent to the Haramain High Speed Train Station in Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah which is composed of three major development elements; a Hotel, a large Mall and a Bus Station that includes retails shops adjacent to the train station in a Transit Orientated Development, the company concluded.