Knowledge Economic City’s (KEC) subsidiary, Makarem Al Maarifa Hospitality, has signed a public-private partnership (PPP) contract with a consortium comprising City Cool, Johnson Controls Arabia (JCA), and ADC Energy Systems to build a chilled water district cooling plant in Madinah.

The contract includes building a plant of 21,000 tonnes of refrigeration (TR) over two phases at Al Madinah Hub to provide cooling services to the mall, Hilton tower, and a branded residence tower, KEC said in a statement to the Saudi stock exchange.

The project will be developed on a build, own, operate, and transfer (BOOT) model by the consortium for 25 years.

Under the contract, JCA will supply York Chillers, while ADC Energy Systems will perform the engineering, procurement, and construction of the district cooling plant.

In addition, City Cool will perform the operation, maintenance, and facility management for 25 years from the operating date.

The statement said that KEC or its subsidiary will bear no capital expenditure in the interim period.

However, the Saudi-listed company will make monthly payments to the consortium to cover the cost of cooling, provided the ownership of the plant is transferred to Makarem Al Maarifa by the end of the contract period of 25 years from the operating date.

The cost of the project and timeline for completion were not given. 

 (Writing by D Madhura; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@lseg.com)

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