Riyadh housing contracts awarded by Royal Commission

The Royal Commission for Riyadh City (RCRC) has issued two contracts worth a combined $637 million for the development of three large land plots in the capital.

The contracts, which were announced on Tuesday, permit Ladun Investment Company in consortium with Al Ayuni Investment and Contracting Company to prepare the master plans for two housing developments in northern Riyadh and a third in the south.

They were issued under the Real Estate Balance Program, an initiative launched by the RCRC last year to increase the supply of residential units in Riyadh and calm prices. 

The largest of the projects, in the northern suburb of Al Qirawan, will be 3.6 million square metres. A second project in northern Al Narjis will be 87,000 square metres, while the project in southern Riyadh’s Namar district will be 570,000 square metres.

“The scope of work includes preparing the detailed master plans and executive designs,” according to a disclosure made by Ladun to the Saudi Exchange, “implementing road, water, sewage, electricity and telecommunications networks; designing public realm spaces and parks; coordinating and connecting utility services; and ensuring the land is fully ready for handover to citizens with complete infrastructure.”

The projects are part of a raft of measures to bring down the cost of housing in the capital, which include a five-year rent freeze and a hike on taxes for vacant or undeveloped land.

In a rare public address in September, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said that the rise in housing costs in recent years had been “unacceptable”.

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