King Abdullah Economic City, Saudi Arabia; March 26th, 2010: Emaar, The Economic City (Emaar.E.C), the tadawul listed company developing King Abdullah Economic City lately started it's 'Job Market Foundation Program' in partnership with the College of Business Administration (CBA).

The 10 weeks long program aims to train and develop high school graduates to better their chances in an increasingly demanding job market. The 'Job Market Foundation Program' comes as part of Emaar E.C's CSR commitment towards training and developing Saudi youth. The current program targeted the youth of Rabigh in specific, whom successfully made up the number of 304 students accepted.

According to the initial agreement signed by Mr. Fahd Al-Rasheed, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Emaar, The Economic City (EEC), and Dr. Abdullah Dahlan, Trustees Council Chairman, (CBA), both parties evenly shared the program cost, which is around SR. 7 million. The Program consists of 4 main courses: Intensive Business English language, Principles of IT, Principles of Management and Communication Skills.

Mr. Fahd Al Rasheed, said: "This partnership with CBA comes as part of Emaar.E.C's Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as it aims to enhance the social and economic lives of all segments of society, and to open more doors for employment through a variety of socio economic initiatives." Al Rasheed added, "Emaar E.C is translating its reading of the job market requirements into its own CSR priorities."

Dr. Abdullah Dahlan said, "The partnership with Emaar.E.C reflects the importance of cooperation between all players in the private sector for the goal of the development of our youth to become productive human resources in a modern economy." Dr. Dahlan highlighted CBA's vision that relies on filling the gap between actual market needs and outputs of college programs, to ensure graduates are equipped with the right tools and skills to succeed in the local and international markets.

Emaar, The Economic City's (EEC), the Tadawul-listed company developing King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC), has completed 50km of roads inside KAEC, linking all parts of the city to each other and to Jeddah-Yanbu and Jeddah-Rabigh highways.

Major parts of the infrastructure including networks of electricity, water, sanitation services and modern communications have also been completed.

Mr. Fahd Al-Rasheed, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Emaar, The Economic City (EEC), said: "The building of the world-class road network is the foundation for all upcoming large projects. This smart infrastructure is nearing completion and with it will be our ability to provide all services to KAEC residents. The completion of 50km of roads has created an efficient link to the Industrial Valley, the seaport, Bay La Sun Village and Hawadi."

Emaar E.C., now based in KAEC, had handed over in 2009 a wide range of residential units at Bay La Sun, land plots in the Industrial Valley, offices at the business park as well as a wide variety of retail space through out the city. KAEC is coming to life as a large number of companies and organizations have already started carrying out their daily operations from KAEC, as the first wave of residents are settling down in the city, becoming the core of KAEC's future communities.

Cisco has been appointed to support the creation of the critical information and communications technology (ICT) master plan for the Jazan Economic City (JEC) 100-million-square-meter "smart city" project.

The Cisco Smart+Connected Communities project at JEC will be coordinated in conjunction with JEC's master plan developers, Malaysian MMC Corp. and the Saudi Ben Laden Group (SBG).

The project aims to attract considerable global investment of more than SR100bn and will establish the presence of a number of major industries in the city, such as local energy production, material, manpower and lifestyle. It also aims to create more than 500,000 new jobs in the various industries and service-oriented companies that will be established in JEC.

Commenting on this partnership, Adzreen Aziz, project director, JEC, said, "The wealth of experience that Cisco has in conceptualizing and managing Smart+Connected Communities across the world has been instrumental in providing us with a workable and justifiable framework for the planning and implementation of JEC information communications technology services towards making JEC a safe, convenient, exciting, cost-effective and attractive city to live in for both residents and investors."

"Cisco's Smart+Connected Communities initiative was developed to be a globally replicable model," said Caspar Herzberg, Senior Director of Cisco Advisory Services.

He added, "It has the potential to play a major role in transforming real estate developments in the regional areas. Together with MMC and SBG, Cisco will provide a smart and world-class services platform that will help achieve JEC's vision."

The pivotal role of tourism in national development is once again highlighted at the opening on Tuesday of the three-day "5th Forum & Exhibition on Tourism and Real Estate Development" held here.

The forum, now on its last day, aims at achieving a number of objectives such as role of railways in the tourism development, importance of air and ground transportation in the tourism development, and electricity, sanitation, water and communications services in real estate development.

Tahir Bawazir, chief executive officer of the Knowledge Economic City (KEC) in Medina, said on the occasion that the private sector's participation in the forum "is an affirmation" of the vital role the sector in developing the tourism sector and further intensifying the real property development of the people and the Saudi society as whole.

He noted that the Knowledge Economic City is one of the grand projects of King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, aimed at improving the Kingdom by providing planned communities with smart environments.

The forum has also witnessed work sessions, investment negotiations and creative ideas that have won government support and were adopted by the private sector, Bawazir said, noting that the forum has highlighted special projects of infrastructure, tourism and real estate development as well as available investment opportunities in the Kingdom and future opportunities in KEC.

As planned, Bawazir said Madinah would be the first city in the region, through the Knowledge Economic City, that will transform the Kingdom's economy to knowledge-based one. He added that KEC will draw around SR30 billion in investments and once developed, the city is projected to create more than 20,000 jobs and have a population of about 150,000 people.

Moreover, Bawazir said throwing KEC's support to the tourism and real estate forum only shows its unequivocal commitment in the pursuit of development for sustained national growth and society's advancement. As a gold sponsor of the forum, KEC project spearheads development initiatives in the Madinah area, he pointed out.

Mr. Ibrahim Al-Khataf, deputy Governor of Medina, opened the forum in the presence of officials from both the government and private sectors, including economists and real estate investors.

Some 50 government and private agencies, along with a number of economists and real estate experts and investors in the Kingdom took part in the forum.

Saudi Developer, Madinah Knowledge Economic City (KEC) has received its approval from the Ministry Commerce and Industry to sell 30% of its shares in an Initial Public Offering.

The Ministry approved setting up the firm with a total capital of SR3.393bn ($904.8m), or 339.3 million shares.

Sh. Ibrahim Bin Mohamed AlEissa, KEC Chairman, commented on behalf of himself and the Board of Directors: "We are delighted with the Ministry's approval and we are currently on schedule in our preparations to finalize the CMA required documentation for the shares floatation before the end of this year as per the company's plans."

KEC is the lead developer of a knowledge-based city within the holy city of Madinah that aims at attracting investments worth up to SR30bn and housing some 150,000 people, according to Sh. AlEissa.

Knowledge Economic City is among four economic cities announced by SAGIA and planned by the Kingdom to diversify its oil-based economy and create jobs for a rapidly growing Saudi population.

"KEC will act as a cultural landmark serving visitors, as well as becoming a national icon for knowledge-based industrial development," added Sh. AlEissa.

The project hopes to spur the creation of knowledge-based industries which would include a hospitality segment, retail offering, commercial and business communities for the millions of pilgrims who visit Madinah each year.

KEC will offer a completely master-planned and connected environment like no other providing the necessary capabilities for a sustainable business and residential environment which will be adaptable to the technology changes of the future

"The city of 30,000 residential units, 1,200 shops and accommodation for 30,000 visitors located in the heart of Madinah Al-Munawwarah will be developed over an area of 4.8 million square meters of a completely master-planned community and is projected to create 20,000 jobs," Sh. AlEissa added.

Saudi Arabia has announced that construction of its Jazan Economic City (JEC) has started, in a bid to diversify the kingdom's economy, Arab News has reported. Located 60 km north of Jazan city, JEC is forecast to attract $30bn of industrial, commercial and residential investments, creating 500,000 direct and indirect job opportunities, according to the project's master developer, MMC Saudi Arabia. Investors in JEC are allowed 100% ownership of their projects within the city, CEO of MMC, Zaidan Yousef has said.

Swiss power and automation technology group, ABB has won an order worth $21m from SOLB South Steel Co. to design, supply, and install a 132-kilovolt substation in Jazan Economic City, Saudi Arabia. As part of turnkey projects, ABB will deliver gas-insulated switchgear (GIS), transformers, medium-voltage switchgear, low-voltage auxiliary systems, network protection and control systems solutions to help monitor the substation.

Emaar, The Economic City (Emaar E.C.), the Tadawul-listed company developing King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC), hosted a delegation in KAEC from Rolls-Royce (RR), one of largest aircraft engine manufacturing companies in the world.

Rolls Royce is currently studying the feasibility to establish an R&D facility as the precursor for a full production plant at KAEC's Industrial Valley.

RR's Director of Global Corporate Development, Mr. Mayles Kodri, and its Managing Director Mr. Paul Rawsen attended a detailed presentation of KAEC's investment opportunities at the Industrial Valley.

As part of the ongoing collaboration and strategic cooperation between KAEC and King Abdullah University for Science and Technology (KAUST), the RR delegation continued their tour to KAUST to discuss collaboration with the university-based research teams.