Saudi Arabia-based developer, Al Akaria Saudi Real Estate Company (Sreco), has announced plans for a 700ha integrated world-class city ‘Al Widyan’ in capital Riyadh.
Strategically located in Riyadhs northern growth corridor, Al Widyan is around 15 minutes from the airport and 20 minutes from downtown Riyadh. Its prime location puts it within reach of a population of over eight million people, a natural market, and workforce for its diverse mix of leisure, retail, education, healthcare, office, and residential uses.
The megaproject will be delivered over a phased programme of development, expected to be undertaken over a seven-year timeframe with the official launch in October. According to Sreco, construction has already started on the mega project with the enabling, grading, and infrastructure work underway. Phase One of the project is being built at a cost of SAR10bn.
The announcement of Al Widyan is part of a new business direction for Sreco, a Saudi developer – partially owned by the government through the Public Investment Fund (PIF) with a 65% stake and the Public Pension Agency (PPA) with 5% – with four decades of experience.
Al Widyan is the first private real estate project to be granted the status of a Self-Regulatory Office (SRO), which de-risks the project for investors, reduces complexity in the development phase and fast tracks permit services, said the statement from Sreco. Co-developers and sub-developers will be able to enjoy significantly shorter go-to-market timelines, making the project an attractive investment opportunity with fast and efficient procedures that will cut through bureaucracy and remove the need to engage with central government authorities.
Sreco has also registered a company to execute the project Al Widyan Company which is 100% owned by it. Construction work on the project begun last year with transportation and traffic impact studies completed and approved, it added.
Sreco said a number of MoUs have already been signed with commercial partners, and talks were on with a wide range of other potential Saudi and international partners. The Saudi developer pointed out that Al Widyan was committed to responsible, environmentally and socially-conscious living and will seek a 40% reduction in energy use and a 35% cut in water use.
On the megaproject, chairman Abdulrahman Almofadhi said: “Al Widyan will be a new paradigm for community living in the kingdom and will embody the spirit of new Saudi Arabia, the power of human talent to conceptualise and develop the future that we aspire to for our children, communities, and nation.
“It provides a complete value chain solution, from conceptualisation, finance and planning; to real estate development, leasing, property and portfolio management, and facilities management. This is delivered through a three-tiered structure of the business, which incorporates real estate investment management, real estate development company, and the joint ventures and subsidiaries division.”
Almofadhi said to deliver this new-generation, self-contained community, Sreco has invested in a team of senior real estate professionals with experience delivering complex projects around the world. “With Al Widyan, we are taking a new approach to real estate development. We have focused on putting peoples wellness at the centre of the conception, design and creation of this project. Al Widyan is the proof of concept of the future of building, living in healthy and innovative environment, where its design is aligned with the world wellness lifestyle real estate principles.”