AMAALA, the ultra-luxury development located along Saudi Arabia’s north western coast, has announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Saudi Contractors Authority (SCA), a government subsidiary authority of Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs.
In line with the ambitions of both organizations and the wider Vision 2030 goals, the MoU sets forth a preliminary pact for cooperation in a number of fields including allowing access to an online “Project Participation Platform” which allows AMAALA to share projects in its pipeline with members of the SCA and receive information of qualified and interested parties intending to bid.
“Saudi Arabia is undergoing an exciting transition towards a new and diversified economy,” said John Pagano, CEO at AMAALA. “AMAALA is a key driver of change, bringing with it a wealth of opportunities for the private sector and it is our ambition to ensure we support Saudi businesses to participate and benefit from the development of this significant destination from the outset.”
“This new partnership with SCA will help us to better connect with Saudi people and businesses, which will in turn enable us to meet our ambitious Saudization targets, whilst connecting the association with contractors already engaged on our project to drive awareness of their important programs” added Pagano.
The MoU also outlines a framework of joint cooperation between both entities, including the establishment of staff training courses and sharing of studies and statistics relating to the local construction sector.
Eng. Thabet Al-Sawayeed, Governor at SCA said: “This partnership is a key step towards achieving our goal of aiding Saudi contractors to participate in the new landscape of projects established to drive the Vision 2030 strategy forward successfully. Working with AMAALA and their existing contractors in this capacity will also allow us to further enable the uptake of our localization programs which incentivize organizations to empower Saudis through training and employment.”
Efforts will be aligned to localize the contracting sector by encouraging contractors engaged with AMAALA to benefit from the localization programs and incentives offered by SCA. AMAALA is central to a number of growing industries and, once completed, the destination will support more than 50,000 direct, indirect and induced jobs providing opportunities to people throughout the country.
This MoU follows efforts to strengthen relationships with local private and public sector organisations. Similar MoUs creating partnerships, outlining collaborative ways of working and providing cross-development opportunities have already been signed with the Saudi Council of Engineers, Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture and MOMRA.
AMAALA has recently awarded several construction contracts to a number of Saudi companies including Al-Tamimi Group, HASCO and Saudi Real Estate (Binyah). Work is well underway on-site to progress the enabling infrastructure and groundwork required to develop the destination.