The local Saudi Constructioneers Establishment has been selected by the local Thabat Company for Real Estate Development to build its SR7bn ($1.9bn) Nasamat al-Riyadh residential project, located northeast of Riyadh.

“Saudi Constructioneers has been approved for the contract, but it has not yet been officially awarded,” says a source close to the project.

The residential development will be built over a total area of 3 square kilometres and will consist of 2,000 villas and 2,100 apartments.

The residential scheme will also include a recreational sports centre, social club, large shopping mall, four schools, medical facilities and mosques. It will also have public services such as a police station, civil defence facility, social and cultural centres and post offices. The development will have 40,000 square metres of garden areas.

The project will be built in three phases over six years. Construction work is expected to begin in early 2011, with the first phase expected to take 36 months to complete.

The local Zuhair Fayez Partnership Consultants is the consultant on the project and Hill TMG, a joint-venture company between Egypt’s Talaat Moustafa Talaat Moustafa Group Holding and US-based Hill International will manage the project.

The developer Thabat was set up as a joint venture by Egypt’s Talaat Moustafa Holding Group and the local Al-Oula Company for Real Estate Development in the Kingdom of Saud Arabia.

Thabat’s Nasamat al-Riyadh is one of the many large-scale residential schemes planned in Saudi Arabia in an effort to address the country’s housing shortage.

The local real estate company Injaz Development Company expects to tender the first major construction package for its estimated SR5bn Al-Marina project in the Eastern Province in early 2011.

The planned Al-Marina project will include 636 villas, 74 tower buildings and 70 mid-rise tower structures. The development will also contain shopping malls, schools, mosques and other recreational facilities (MEED 8:10:10).