Picture caption: Good tidings Officials of the Knowledge Economic City (KEC) address the media during the press conference in Jeddah Wednesday. From right are Omar Bayazeed, senior vice president for contracts and purchasing; Dr. Sami Baroum, chairman of the Board of Directors; Khaled Tash, senior vice president for marketing and sales; and Maged Kareem, CFO. (SG photo by Mohammad Mazhar Siddiqi) Projects include villas, museum as well as residential and commercial areas JEDDAH: Knowledge Economic City in Al-Madina posted SR20 million profit in the first quarter of 2011, Dr. Sami Baroum, the KEC chairman of the board, announced in a press conference held at the company headquarters in Jeddah Wednesday. The profit comes from selling part of land by KEC to the KEC Real Estate Limited Company which has a tie up with the Saudi Real Estate Company. The Saudi Real Estate Company is responsible for developing and selling the first phase of a villa community. “We have saved about SR300 million from the assets in constructing the infrastructure of first phase which is located inside Al-Haram Zone of Al-Nabawi Mosque in Al-Madina,” said Baroum. The first phase includes Knowledge campus, Villa Community, museum, residential area and commercial area. The KEC is expected to finish the sewage network inside the city by the end of 2011. Currently it is constructing the main electrical station in the northern area which is expected to be finished by 2013. Baroum presented the strategic principles of developing the KEC projects, which include infrastructure, rural services and development of real estate. “KEC will attract and bring Muslim experts all over the world, in addition to the qualified Saudi youths, to make the city most important to the Muslins in the world as it is located in Al-Madina,” said Baroum. He said the company had made special studies of the flood paths in Al-Mdina to avoid any flooding problem in the future. “We have signed a contract with National Water Company to retreat the sewage water and use it for irrigation purposes inside the city,” he said. The Villa Community has a smart infrastructure and designed according to the old architectural theme of Al-Madina . KEC's Real Estate Limited Company will develop the first phase which includes 206 villas that are expected to be finished by 2012. The total space of the Community Villa is about 586,000 square meters and will be developed in four phases to have 900 villas costing about SR1 billion when the project is finished in 2014. On the other hand, KEC is set to launch Diwan Al-Marifah (Board of Knowledge) which has already hosted numerous national and international economic, cultural and training seminars and events in 2011.
