Work on the $20 billion Jeddah Central Project is progressing well in the Saudi Arabia port city, a top official has said.
According to a report by Arab News, the CEO of the Jeddah Central Project, Ahmed Abdul Aziz Al Saleem, said that work to regenerate central Jeddah, which was formerly known as New Jeddah Downtown, is largely being carried out by Saudis.
“The project has a mix of male and female engineers, with 85% of the company’s staff made up of Saudis, of which 30% are women,” he said as per the report.
The 5.7 million sqm area is being designed as a cultural and sport tourism destination, he added. Once complete, it will feature a number of major landmarks, such as an opera house, a museum, a sports stadium and coral farms.
Furthermore, the Central Jeddah Project will feature a marina, restaurants, beach resorts, more than 2,700 hotel rooms and 17,000 homes in the Kingdom’s second-largest city, which has a population of approximately four million people.
Al Saleem added that the operational work of the project will pave the way for the local private sector to play a part in the project.
Once completed, the project is expected to have an estimated added value of $12.5 billion to the Saudi economy.