Knowledge Economic City Company (KEC), which is developing the Knowledge Economic City development in Madinah, announced on Tadawul that it has signed several agreements to advance its KEC Hub project.  

The 1.3-billion Saudi riyals ($347 million) KEC Hub is a 68,000 square metre tourism complex within KEC. 

KEC said the signings included two construction-related contracts for the main mall (formerly called Madinah Downtown), and an agreement for a 5-star hotel. 

The developer said it awarded a 242 million riyals ($60 million) construction contract and a 17.4 million riyals ($5 million) construction supervision contract for the mall to Al-Saad Contracting Company and EHAF Consulting Engineers, respectively. 

It said construction is scheduled to start in May 2021 and is being funded through a mix of internal accruals and bank loans. 

KEC also signed agreements with global hospitality chain Hilton to operate and provide engineering consultancy services for a 354-key, 5-star hotel within the KEC Hub. 

In a separate statement, KEC said it signed an agreement with MOBCO Group to develop and operate Elite-branded international school complex within the area designated for the knowledge cluster. 

The company said school complex, with a capacity for 1,700 students, would be developed on 20,000 square metres of land provided on a 25-year long-term lease, which is extendable by another 25 years, and will commence initial operations by September 2022. 

Knowledge Economic City is one of the economic development projects launched under the economic cities initiative in Saudi Arabia, according to its website. 

(Writing by Anoop Menon; Editing by Seban Scaria) 

(anoop.menon@refinitiv.com)

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