Emaar targets Chinese for Shenzhen model Saudi city

|By TAP Staff| Emaar is eying significant investments by Chinese companies in its King Abdullah Economic City in Saudi Arabia. According to Fahd Al Rashed, chief executive of the city, several Chinese firms have shown interest and the company hopes to rope in up to 20 percent of investments from the Chinese.

The King Abdulla Economic City envisages a port and business district as well as residential areas and resorts. It will be built over 168 square kilometers (65 square miles), about the size of Washington D.C

So far, two of the 80 companies that have agreed to invest in the Red Sea area are from China, Rashid said in an interview at the World Economic Forum in Tianjin.

“We need to leverage the Chinese expertise in building the city,” he said. “They can own hotels, they can own properties, we really welcome Chinese investment.”

“We looked at the Chinese model of Shenzhen as an example that you can create a major industrial base in a special economic zone,” he said.

The difference is that Saudi Arabia is doing it privately, not via the government, he said, referring to the listing of the project on the nation’s stock exchange.

The company aims to boost KAEC’s population to 50,000 people by 2020 from the current 3,000 to 4,000. Rasheed said he is trying to learn from the mistakes of unsuccessful plans to create cities in other parts of the world, including China.

(With Bloomberg)