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Egypt’s Talaat Moustafa to help build Saudi ‘smart city’

By Andrew Hammond
Developer Talaat Moustafa's other projects include Noor City in East Cairo Talaat Moustafa
Developer Talaat Moustafa's other projects include Noor City in East Cairo
  • $10.7bn project north of Riyadh
  • 27,750 residential units
  • 40% of district to be green spaces

Egyptian real estate developer Talaat Moustafa Group said on Sunday it had signed an agreement with the Saudi National Housing Company to build a residential and commercial suburb northeast of Riyadh.

The value of the deal is estimated at SAR40 billion ($10.7 billion). 

The community, described as a “smart city”, will include 27,750 residential units covering 10 million square metres inside NHC’s Al-Fursan district.

NHC said earlier this year the entire Al-Fursan district would have a total of 50,000 residential units alongside amenities and green spaces.

Some 40 percent of the smart city would be taken up by green spaces, NHC said.

Talaat Moustafa Group is one of Egypt’s leading developers, while NHC is the investment arm of the Saudi Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs and Housing, focusing on real estate development and investment.

The announcement was made on the sidelines of the four-day Cityscape Global expo, subtitled “The Future of Living”, which began in Riyadh on September 10. 

Saudi Arabia is developing a series of new communities as part of its Vision 2030 project to diversify the economy away from oil.

These include the futuristic city Neom, economic cities and residential areas in which Saudis are encouraged to buy their own homes. 

The total value of real estate and infrastructure projects in Saudi Arabia is $1.25 trillion. These are in addition to $250 billion of commissioned projects.

Most of these are in housing, as the kingdom plans to reach a population of 50 million by 2030, real estate consultancy Knight Frank said in a report last week.

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