RIYADH, 18 September 2007 — Bechtel, a privately-owned company with headquarters in San Francisco, US, was chosen to supervise the construction of a massive Jeddah project with investment valued at SR50 billion.
Kingdom Holding Company (KHC), chaired by Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, said in a statement yesterday that Bechtel won over other seven companies that bid for the project.
KHC received the Jeddah Project Master plan from Pickard Chilton, reputable and renowned designers who have designed some of the world’s significant buildings, including the Kingdom Center, recognized by its iconic tower.
The Jeddah project has an area of 5.3 million square meters located in the city’s northern area on the Red Sea coastline. The gargantuan project includes a colossal skyscraper with a surrounding area for other facilities (residential, commercial, a five-star hotel and offices).
The residential area will be 1.5 million square meters, with the commercial area measuring 470,000 square meters, education vicinity having an area of 150,000 square meters and the offices cover 800,000 square meters. The remaining lands will be utilized for leisure facilities, tourism and the construction of four-star hotels.
There are also plans for the development of a diplomatic quarter on the Jeddah land. The site plans for the land were developed by a Canadian company HOK, which has global recognition.
The project will also connect the Red Sea coastline of the area to Sharm Obhur, an environment of natural beauty.
Bechtel is a global engineering, construction and project management company with more than a century of experience on complex projects. It has 40 offices around the world and nearly 40,000 employees.