Al-Arrab to finish infrastructure on Riyadh's Ajmakan by June

18 May 2010

Local contractor is the favourite to build the entire project

The local Al-Arrab Contracting Company (ACC) will finish enabling and infrastructure work on Riyadh’s Ajmakan mixed-use development by June this year.

The date of completion for the infrastructure phase was extended from May this year because of a design change by the local Saud Consult, which was contracted to design the project’s infrastructure.   

According to a source close to the project, the estimated $6.2bn gated community will ultimately be a luxury development similar to Riyadh’s Diplomatic Quarter. The 1.8 million-square-metre project is being developed by the local The Land Real Estate Investment & Development Company. 

The site of the controlled-access community is located northwest of Riyadh in the Al-Khozama district, near the start of the newly rehabilitated 120-kilometre Wadi Hanifa valley.     

Once finished, Ajmakan will include 2,015 villas varying in size between 500 and 3,000 sqm. The project will house an estimated 9,000 residents and will also include 118,000 sqm of office space and a 120,000-sqm shopping mall.

Japan’s Nikken Sekkei carried out masterplan and detailed design of Ajmakan while local civil engineering firm Kattan Consult completed detailed design of the villas. Seventeen mock-up villas will be built onsite by the beginning of the third quarter of this year (MEED 30:6:08).

According to the source, Al-Arrab is the favourite to be awarded the main construction contract, but The Land has yet to make a decision. The official contract award is scheduled to come in the fourth quarter of this year.     

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