ABV Rock to replace Binladin on medical city

21 April 2015

The healthcare city will contain three hospitals and related medical and residential facilities

  • The contract was originally awarded to the local Saudi Binladin in 2013
  • ABV Rock is already building a medical city with identical specifications in Riyadh
  • Project will have a total built-up area of 400,000 square metres

The local ABV Rock has been selected by Saudi Arabia’s Interior Ministry to replace the local Saudi Binladin on the project to build an estimated SR12bn ($3.2bn) Medical City in Jeddah.

Saudi Binladin had been awarded the contract to build the Medical City in 2013, but its contract has been cancelled, with the ministry turning to ABV Rock to build the medical facility. It is unclear why Binladin’s contract was cancelled.

According to sources close to the project, Binladin had mobilised some equipment on site, but no construction work had started. ABV Rock is expected to sign a formal contract by the end of April.

ABV Rock is already working on an identical medical city for the Interior Ministry in Riyadh. The ministry invited contractors to submit bids for both medical cities in August 2011. In January 2013, the ministry selected ABV Rock to build the Riyadh Medical City.

The two medical cities will have the same design and will both include three hospitals and all related medical and residential facilities. The medical facilities will have a total built-up area of about 400,000 square metres.

Each complex will also contain academic and clinical centres, as well as a research centre. The residential villas and apartments will have a total built-up area of about 500,000 sq m. The plans also include office buildings and service stations. The medical complexes will have about 200,000 sq m of car parking.

The consultant for both schemes is the local office of Lebanon’s Dar al-Handasah.

The Interior Ministry medical schemes are part of the government’s plans to build several medical cities to expand its healthcare infrastructure to cope with the country’s rapid population growth.

In October 2014, a joint venture of the local Al-Bawani Company and Italy’s Salini Impregilo was awarded two contracts by the Health Ministry totalling more than SR10bn for the construction of new hospitals in Saudi Arabia.

The larger of the two orders, worth SR5.6bn, was for King Faisal Medical City in Abha in the Asir province, located in the southwest of the kingdom. The 36-month deal involves the construction of three hospital towers, underground parking, an office complex, a convention centre, a hotel, utilities, roads and infrastructure on a 260,000 sq m site.

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