ALKHOBAR: Emaar Middle East, a major property developer in the region, has awarded construction contracts for the first two residential villages in its Alkhobar Lakes development to several leading Saudi contractors. This follows the groundbreaking for the project in June by Eastern Province Gov. Prince Mohammed ibn Fahd. Ground leveling work, excavation and other construction aspects will begin shortly.
Alkhobar Lakes is one of the largest gated communities in Eastern Province and rest of the Kingdom, and Emaar Middle East had recently unveiled the first residential villages — Al-Nada and Al-Ghadeer — as part of the first phase of the project. Customer response to the villa communities was overwhelming.
“Alkhobar Lakes is setting new standards in master-planned community development in the region and we are committed to honoring our valued customers by delivering the homes on schedule. The construction contracts, therefore, have been provided to leading Saudi Arabian contractors, who have demonstrated abilities to deliver projects according to specifications and guidelines,” Alaa Abdullah Saed, CEO, Emaar Middle East, said.
“In developing the various components of Emaar Middle East, our prime consideration is to uphold international best practices. The contractors have been selected through competitive bidding giving every one a fair chance to prove their abilities and cost-effectiveness. With our team of leading contractors, we are confident that Alkhobar Lakes will set benchmarks in architecture and construction excellence,” he added.
The initial construction will focus on over 470 villas that make up the Al-Nada and Al-Ghadeer villages. The construction schedule has been so planned to ensure hand-over of homes before the end of 2010. Infrastructure development contracts will be awarded soon with the bids having opened to select the contractors.
A lakefront gated community, Alkhobar Lakes is a 4.3 million sq. m. development featuring 80,000 sq. m. of serene water bodies. The first phase of the project has a development value of SR4.6 billion ($1.2 billion) and has over 2,000 private villas in a series of nine villages with educational complexes, community centers, retail and leisure amenities.
Emaar Middle East recently signed a contract with Saudi Telecom Company for implementing the communication infrastructure in all of its projects across the Kingdom including Alkhobar Lakes and Jeddah Gate.