Knowledge Economic City Magazine 2009 by Faircount

7 7 C h arles Street West • Abaad Tower Landscape, Dubai • Abu D h a b i I n t e rco n t i n e n t a l H o t e l A d d i t i o n • A h m a d i Tow n s h i p R e d eve lo p m e n t P ro j e c t • A l J a d d a f M a st e r P l a n C o m p e t i t i on • Al Birdi Coasta l Development, Libya • Al Jazira Sports C l u b , A b u D h a b i • A l M e d i n a A l M u n a w a ra P rov i n ce , S a u d i A ra b i a • A l O u l a Towe r C o m p e t i t i o n , S a u d i A ra b i a • A l Wa ab • Sheikah Hanadi Land Development • Al-Abdali Urb a n R e g e n e ra t i o n P ro j e c t • A l g o n q u i n C o l le g e • A l - S i fa • A n N a s i m D i st r i c t R ev i s i o n • Aqaba Lagoon Comp e t i t i on • Bahrain Housing Bank • Bahrain Waterfront Hotel • B a n d a r A’ S e e f D e t a i le d M a st e r P l a n • B a r ra n q u i l l a Po r t P re l i m i n a r y M a st e r P l a n , C o lo m b i a • B e a c h e s a n d R e s i d ential Areas Development, Dubai • Betulia, Honduras • Bri d g e p o i n t H e a l t h • B r i d lewo o d Pa r k Wa t e r p l a y • B u b i ya n I s l a n d • B u c h a re st M u l t i - S e c t o r P ro j e c t / H i st o r i c Z o n e • C a n al City Development • Cawthra Park - Landscape Upgrades • C h a n g y i n g , B e i j i n g • C h a r lo t t e t ow n G O B C L a n d s c a p e • C I B C - B a r r i e , O n t a r i o • C I B C - B a y f i e l d & C u n d le s • C I B C - Laird & McRae • CIBC Landscape Architect, Port Credit • C I B C N a t i o n a l S i g n a g e P ro g ra m m e • C I B C P i c ke r i n g • C I B C S i g n a g e D e s i g n • C le a r p o i n t R e s o r t V i s i o n P l a n • Concord Adex Daycare Centre • Cosco Beijing Housing • C re s ce n t B a y M a st e r P l a n , K a ra c h i • D a m m a m M a st e r P l a n • D a m m a m S h o p p i n g C o m p lex • D a m m a n C e n t ra l J u n c t i on • Darb Al Khalil Redevelopment, Mekkah • Deira Island - Fro n t B u s i n e ss Pa r k • D e s e r t K i n g d o m , D a l l a s • D u b a i I n t e r n a t i o n a l F i n a n c i a l C e n t re - M a st e r P l a n • D o h a A re a 1 Master Plan Competition • Doha City Centre • Doha Nort h B e a c h R e s o r t • D u b a i D C C Towe r C o m p e t i t i o n • D u b a i Fe st i va l C i t y • Du b a i G a l le r i a • D u b a i H e a l t h c a re C i t y • Dubai Marina • Dubai Petland - Dubailand • Dubai Prom e n a d e • D u b a i S t u d i o C i t y • D u b a i Wo r l d Tra d e C e n t re • E a st e r n M a n g rove I s l a n d • E a st e r n Po r t l a n d s • E m a ra t Master Plan • Energy Capital Detailed Master Planning, A b u D h a b i • E n e rg y C i t y N a v i M u m b a i - M a st e r P l a n n i n g • E xce l S i t e , M u m b a i , I n d i a • Fa i l a k a I s l a n d , K u w a i t • F i rst Bay Resort, Croatia • Goa International Film Festival, India • G o a O z o n e R e s o r t ( G O R ) • H a l i fa x C e n t ra l L i b ra r y B u i l d i n g P ro g ra m a n d S p a ce R e q u i re m e n t s • H a w a r I s l a n d s • H B C Brampton • Houston Parks • Humber River Regional Hos p i t a l • I n j a z D u b a i l a n d M a st e r P l a n • K i n g A b d u l l a h E co n o m i c C i t y - K A E C - R e d S e a V i l l a g e M a st e r P l a n n i n g • K A E C - Bay La Sun Master Plan • Kararchi Port Tower Complex • K a ra c h i M a r i n a D e t a i le d M a st e r P l a n • K A U S T - K i n g A b d u l l a h U n i ve rs i t y S c i e n ce & Te c h n o lo g y • K e m p t o n H ow a rd Splash Pad • Khandama Development Project • KHED M u l t i - P ro d u c t S E Z M a st e r P l a n • K i l l a r n ey P rov i n c i a l Pa r k V i s i t o r C e n t re • K i l l b e a r P rov i n c i a l Pa r k V i s i t o r C e n t re • King Abdullah International Gardens Design Competition • K i n g Fa h a d Pa r k • K i n g d o m H o l d i n g D eve lo p m e n t , J e d d a h • K n ow le d g e E con o m i c C i t y M a st e r P l a n • K u w a i t H e r i t a ge Village • Madinat Al Arab - Dubai Waterfront Project • M a k k a h G a t ew a y R e s o r t • M a va i a M a st e r P l a n , B o g o t a , C o lo m b i a • M e d i S p a • 8 0 0 M o n t re a l R o a d , O t t a w a • M u m b ai Raheja Infocity (MRI) • Muttrah Hills Resort, Oman • Na k h e e l Pa l m J e b e l A l i • N a t o u r R e s o r t D eve lo p m e n t • N o r t h B e a c h R e s o r t , D o h a • O m a n - A t h a i b a D eve lo p m e n t • O m an Tourism Coastal Zone • Oqyana Landscape • Peter Lou g h e e d C e n t re , C a l g a r y • Q a t a r L a d i e s I n ve st m e n t Towe r • R o s e C h e r r y H o m e Fa c i l i t y • R oya l V i l l a g e M a st e r P l a n • Royal Stables Master Plan and Concept Design • Saadiya t I s l a n d • S a n ya B a y • S a ra ya I s l a n d , R a s A l K h a i m a h • S c a r b o ro u g h O p e r t a i o n s C e n t re L a n d s c a p e S e r v i ce s • S e i h S deirah Master Plan • Shamiyah Redevelopment Plan • S h e i k h H a m d a n • S h e t h Towe r , D u b a i M a r i n a • S h i rd i M a st e r P l a n , I n d i a • S i d i A b d E l - R a h m a n B a y • S o h o Towe r & Podium • St. Lawrence Park • Subiya New Town - Land P rov i s i o n fo r H o u s i n g C a re P ro j e c t • S u z h o u I n d u st r i a l Pa r k , H o n g K o n g • T D B a n k - S c a r b o ro u g h O p e ra t i o n s C e n t re • Tunis Bay Master Plan • Umm Quwain Waterfront Maste r P l a n • U m m R a m o o l R e d eve lo p m e n t • U n i ve rs i t y o f H o u st o n , C le a r l a ke • U n i ve rs i t y o f A l b e r t a - S o u t h C a m p u s • Urban Regeneration South Gudaibiya • Xiguacan Condom i n i u m s • C a n a d i a n N a v y M o n u m e n t • Pa rq u e d e Va l d e b e b a s D e s i g n C o m pe t i t i o n • D u b a i S t u d i o C i t y Tow n C e n t re Competition • Dubai Creek Competition • City of the Futu re - A t l a n t a • A l Ta ye r Towe r • B a h ra i n H o u s i n g P ro g ra m • B a n d a r A’ S e e f M a st e r P l a n • Tra ce M a i n e s Wa d i n g Po ol Conversion, Toronto • Islington Avenue Landuse Study • B u b ya n I s l a n d M a st e r P l a n • D a m m a m C i t y - M a st e r P l a n • D u b a i M a r i n a R FC ’s • Fra n k l i n C h i l d re n ’s G a rd e n • K i s h Island • Kuwait University • Master Plan for Qatar • Na n j i n g • Po r t l a n d s C o m p e t i t i o n - To ro n t o • R i c h m o n d H i l l • U n i ve rs i t y o f N i z w a • Sick Kids Hospital • 77 C h a r les Street West • Abaad Tower Landscape, Dubai • Abu Dha b i I n t e rco n t i n e n t a l H o t e l A d d i t i o n • A h m a d i Tow n s h i p R e d eve lo p m e n t P ro j e c t • A l J a d d a f M a st e r P l a n C o m p e t i t i o n • Al Birdi Coastal Development, Libya • Al Jazira Sports Cl u b , A b u D h a b i • A l M e d i n a A l M u n a w a ra P rov i n ce , S a u d i A ra b i a • A l O u l a Towe r C o m p e t i t i o n , S a u d i A ra b i a • A l Wa a b • Sheikah Hanadi L and Development • Al-Abdali Urban R e g e n e ra t i o n P ro j e c t • A l g o n q u i n C o l le g e • A l - S i fa • A n N a s i m D i st r i c t R ev i s i o n • Aqaba Lagoon Competit i o n • Bahrain Housing Bank • Bahrain Waterfront Hotel • Band a r A’ S e e f D e t a i le d M a st e r P l a n • B a r ra n q u i l l a Po r t P re l i m i n a r y M a st e r P l a n , C o lo m b i a • B e a c h e s a n d R e s i d e n t i a l A reas Development, Dubai • Betulia, Honduras • Bridgepo i n t H e a l t h • B r i d lewo o d Pa r k Wa t e r p l a y • B u b i ya n I s l a n d • B u c h a re st M u l t i - S e c t o r P ro j e c t / H i st o r i c Z o n e • • C I B C - B a r r i e , O n t a r i o • C I B C - B a y f i e l d & C u n d le s C a n a l City Development • Cawthra Park - Landscape Upgrades • C h a n g y i n g , B e i j i n g • C h a r lo t t e t ow n G O B C L a n d s c a p e • C I B C - Laird & McRae • CIBC Landscape Architect, Port Credi t • C I B C N a t i o n a l S i g n a g e P ro g ra m m e • C I B C P i c ke r i n g • C I B C S i g n a g e D es i g n • C le a r p o i n t R e s o r t V i s i o n P l a n • Concord Adex Daycare Centre • Cosco Beijing Housing • C re s ce n t B a y M a st e r P l a n , K a ra c h i • D a m m a m M a st e r P l a n • D a m m a m S h o p p i n g C o m p lex • D a m m a n C e n t ra l J u n c t i on • Darb Al Khalil Redevelopment, Mekkah • Deira Island - Fro n t B u s i n e ss Pa r k • D e s e r t K i n g d o m , D a l l a s • D u b a i I n t e r n a t i o n a l F i n a n c i a l C e n t re - M a st e r P l a n • D o h a A re a 1 Master Plan Competition • Doha City Centre • Doha Nort h B e a c h R e s o r t • D u b a i D C C Towe r C o m p e t i t i o n • D u b a i Fe st i va l C i t y • D u b a i G a l le r i a • D u b a i H e a l t h c a re C i t y • Dubai Marina • Dubai Petland - Dubailand • Dubai Prom e n a d e • D u b a i S t u d i o C i t y • D u b a i Wo r l d Tra d e C e n t re • E a st e r n M a n g rove I s l a n d • E a st e r n Po r t l a n d s • E m a rat Master Plan • Energy Capital Detailed Master Planning, A b u D h a b i • E n e rg y C i t y N a v i M u m b a i - M a st e r P l a n n i n g • E xce l S i t e , M u m b a i , I n d i a • Fa i l a k a I s l a n d , K u w a i t • F i rst Bay Resort, Croatia • Goa International Film Festival, India • G o a O z o n e R e s o r t ( G O R ) • H a l i fa x C e n t ra l L i b ra r y B u i l d i n g P ro g ra m a n d S p a ce R e q u i re m e n t s • H a w a r I s l a n d s • H B C Brampton • Houston Parks • Humber River Regional Hos p i t a l • I n j a z D u b a i l a n d M a st e r P l a n • K i n g A b d u l l a h E co n o m i c C i t y - K A E C - R e d S e a V i l l a g e M a st e r P l a n n i n g • K A E C - Bay La Sun Master Plan • Kararchi Port Tower Complex • K a ra c h i M a r i n a D e t a i le d M a st e r P l a n • K A U S T - K i n g A b d u l l a h U n i ve rs i t y S c i e n ce & Te c h n o lo g y • K e m p t o n H ow a rd Splash Pad • Khandama Development Project • KHED M u l t i - P ro d u c t S E Z M a st e r P l a n • K i l l a r n ey P rov i n c i a l Pa r k V i s i t o r C e n t re • K i l l b e a r P rov i n c i a l Pa r k V i s i t o r C e n t re • King Abdullah International Gardens Design Competition • K i n g Fa h a d Pa r k • K i n g d o m H o l d i n g D eve lo p m e n t , J e d d a h • K n ow le d g e E co n o m i c C i t y M a st e r P l a n • K u w a i t H e r i t a ge Village • Madinat Al Arab - Dubai Waterfront Project • M a k k a h G a t ew a y R e s o r t • M a va i a M a st e r P l a n , B o g o t a , C o lo m b i a • M e d i S p a • 8 0 0 M o n t re a l R o a d , O t t a w a • M u m b ai Raheja Infocity (MRI) • Muttrah Hills Resort, Oman • Na k h e e l Pa l m J e b e l A l i • N a t o u r R e s o r t D eve lo p m e n t • N o r t h B e a c h R e s o r t , D o h a • O m a n - A t h a i b a D eve lo p m e n t • O m an Tourism Coastal Zone • Oqyana Landscape • Peter Lo u g h e e d C e n t re , C a l g a r y • Q a t a r L a d i e s I n ve st m e n t Towe r • R o s e C h e r r y H o m e Fa c i l i t y • R oya l V i l l a g e M a st e r P l a n • Royal Stables Master Plan and Concept Design • Saadiya t I s l a n d • S a n ya B a y • S a ra ya I s l a n d , R a s A l K h a i m a h • S c a r b o ro u g h O p e r t a i o n s C e n t re L a n d s c a p e S e r v i ce s • S e i h Sdeirah Master Plan • Shamiyah Redevelopment Plan • S h e i k h H a m d a n • S h e t h Towe r , D u b a i M a r i n a • S h i rd i M a st e r P l a n , I n d i a • S i d i A b d E l - R a h m a n B a y • S o h o Towe r & Podium • St. Lawrence Park • Subiya New Town - Land P rov i s i o n fo r H o u s i n g C a re P ro j e c t • S u z h o u I n d u st r i a l Pa r k , H o n g K o n g • T D B a n k - S c a r b o ro u g h O p e ra t i o n s C e n t re • Tunis Bay Master Plan • Umm Quwain Waterfront Maste r P l a n • U m m R a m o o l R e d eve lo p m e n t • U n i ve rs i t y o f H o u st o n , C le a r l a ke • U n i ve rs i t y o f A l b e r t a - S o u t h C a m p u s • Urban Regeneration South Gudaibiya • Xiguacan Condom i n i u m s • C a n a d i a n N a v y M o n u m e n t • Pa rq u e d e Va l d e b e b a s D e s i g n C o m p e t i t i o n • D u b a i S t u d i o C i t y Tow n C e n t re Competition • Dubai Creek Competition • City of the Futu re - A t l a n t a • A l Ta ye r Towe r • B a h ra i n H o u s i n g P ro g ra m • B a n d a r A’ S e e f M a st e r P l a n • Tra ce M a i n e s Wa d i n g Po ol Conversion, Toronto • Islington Avenue Landuse Study • B u b ya n I s l a n d M a st e r P l a n • D a m m a m C i t y - M a st e r P l a n • D u b a i M a r i n a R FC ’s • Fra n k l i n C h i l d re n ’s G a rd e n • K i s h Island • Kuwait U niversity • Master Plan for Qatar • Na n j i n g • Po r t l a n d s C o m p e t i t i o n - To ro n t o • R i c h m o n d H i l l • U n i ve rs i t y o f N i zw a • Sick Kids Hospital • 77

KNOWLEDGE ECONOMIC CITY MASTER PLANNING • URBAN DESIGN

Magazine Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah Madinah fulfils its destiny as a beacon of knowledge In this issue • The connected city • A gateway to investment • The helping hand of a wise king • Commerce made easy

• LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE

GLOBAL VISION... ...LOCAL SENSITIVITY 1501 A API World Tower, P.O. Box 26437 Sheikh Zayed Road, Dubai, UAE - Tel: + 9714.332.9116

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KEC_backcover.indd 1 Back cover (213mm width x 276mm height trim size)

12/3/2009 4:37:44 PM

Front cover (213mm width x 276mm height trim size)

Foreword

With the blessings of Allah, we launch “Knowledge Economic City Magazine” to serve as a virtual mirror reflecting the construction progress of the prominent project in Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah. When we thought of publishing this magazine, we remembered the wise saying about three kinds of people: some have heard of what is going on; others have no idea of what is going on; while the third performs what is going on. Certainly, based on the regular enquiries we have received since its launch, the project needs further elaboration and clarification; something we feel this magazine can go a long way towards achieving. Through it, therefore, we aspire to supply information and data to enhance the knowledge of those who have heard of the Knowledge Economic City project and bring them closer to those who have seen and recognized what is going on. At the same time, we aim to attract those who are unaware of the project and to forge a connection between them and those who are implementing it. The global revolution in information and communications has, ultimately, ushered in a transition from the economics of industry to the economics of knowledge, as knowledge has increasingly become the key to development, relegating the importance of many traditional industries as a consequence. Recognizing the importance of adapting to this significant change in economic balance, the General Investment Authority, following the directive of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, and in coordination with the alliance of the national developers headed by a group of national companies, established an investment entity with the participation of the King Abdullah Endowment for His Parents. The Knowledge Economic City project in Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah was born shortly afterwards, in June 2006, to become the first city of its kind and the hub of knowledge-based industries in the Kingdom. With a combined investment of over SR30 billion ($8 billion), the project occupies a total area of 4.8 million square metres. The constructed area, as planned, would be 9 million square metres, to include 250,000 square metres of office space, 1,200 retail outlets, and 30,000 residential units. The project is expected to create 20,000 job opportunities and has been designed to accommodate 200,000 residents and visitors. Knowledge Economic City comprises several main sectors: the Teebah Compound for Technological and Economic Knowledge; a technological studies institute; an interactive museum of the Prophet’s biography, and the Islamic Civilization Studies Center. The city also includes a compound for medical studies and biological sciences, an integrated health services facility that comprises clinics and auxiliary laboratories, commercial centres, and an integrated business centre, in addition to residential areas with a wide range of accommodation. The new knowledge-based industries that will rise in the city will stimulate the local economy and have a positive impact on the geographical distribution of growth, with an anticipated population influx into Al-Madinah Al-Munawarah. The memoranda of understanding entered into thus far between KEC and various international companies specializing in information technology will benefit the city’s educational and professional development, and the local population - both men and women - will, in any event, be welcomed into new educational fields, thereby forming a valuable new skilled human resource base. In closing, we express our deep gratitude to King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, for his discerning directives, and we pray that Allah Almighty will protect him. We also convey our great appreciation to Prince Abdul Aziz bin Majed bin Abdul Aziz, Emir of Al-Madinah Region, for his unremitting care and sustained support for the project. We thank him for his valuable advice. Ibrahim Al-Issa Board Chairman of Economic Knowledge City Company

KEC MAGAZINE 2009 1

Credits

Published on behalf of Knowledge Economic City Developers Company Ltd. by Faircount Media Group

European Headquarters 5 Ella Mews, Hampstead, London NW3 2NH, UK Tel: +44 (0)20 7428 7000 Fax: +44 (0)20 7117 3338 Email: publisher@faircount.co.uk North American Headquarters 701 North West Shore Blvd, Tampa, Florida 33609, USA Tel: +1 (813) 639 1900 Fax: +1 (813) 639 4344 Email: publisher@faircount.com Asia-Pacific Headquarters Level 21, Tower 2, 101 Grafton Street, Bondi Junction, NSW 2022, Australia Tel: +61 (0)2 8063 4800 Fax: +61 (0)2 8580 5047 Email: publisher@faircount.com.au

Publishers Peter M Antell, Ross W Jobson

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Editor Mark Gardiner

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Subeditor David Taylor

Picture Editor Kay Rowley

Marketing Manager Trevor Raymond

Contributors Graeme Aymer, Pamela Buxton, Peter Crush, Mike Fletcher, Mark Gardiner, Anna Goldie, Robert Gray, Steve Hemsley, Helen Jones, Claire Murphy, David Murphy, Jane Simms

Production Coordinator Colin Davidson

Marketing Executives Roger Baker Oliver Hick Stephen Idrissi Andrew Moss Nick Reid

Printed in Saudi Arabia

Production Administrator Margaret Dube Photography Cover image: Art Directors All other photography as credited

Office Manager Chantelle Alvarez

ÂŠCopyright 2009 Faircount Media Group. All rights reserved. Reproduction of editorial content in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. Faircount Media Group does not assume responsibility for the advertisements, nor any representation made therein, nor the quality or deliverability of the products themselves. Reproduction of articles and photographs, in whole or in part, contained herein is prohibited without express written consent of the publisher, with the exception of reprinting for news media use.

KEC MAGAZINE 2009 3

Contents 10 City of faith Madinah has been a centre for Islamic learning for centuries and is now set to become a beacon of knowledge in the twenty-first century CE. 16 Beyond oil The desire to ensure that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s prosperity can be maintained without dependence on oil is driving far-sighted new initiatives. 22 Opportunities for business The Economic Cities concept presents numerous lucrative possibilities for forward thinking entrepreneurs as Saudi Arabia broadens its economy. 28 Iconic ideals KEC is unique in combining economic goals with cultural and religious aspirations, as a glance behind the vision for the new metropolis shows. 30 The light of knowledge A sustainable knowledge based community needs strong foundations and KEC is built on three sturdy pillars which parallel the underlying goals that will shape it.

32 In the loop Madinah, long a meeting point for pilgrims and visitors, was a natural choice to create a high-tech hub that would attract scientists, scholars, researchers and entrepreneurs. 40 Investment portal SAGIA’s role in stimulating investment and enhancing the business environment is crucial, as its chairman, Amr Al-Dabbagh, explains. 46 Credible investors The five major shareholders in KEC are beginning to see their plans take shape, as these individual profiles outline.

Photography: Ar t Directors.co.uk / Ark Religion.com; © ArabianEye; Cour tesy of Knowledge Economic City.

47 A balanced way The Savola group’s diversity is one of its strengths and has helped it become a regional pioneer in corporate governance and ethical behaviour. 48 Connected project support Quad International Real Estate Development Company has wide ranging in-house talent and an exceptional access to key partners in planning and managing major projects. 49 Overcoming difﬁculties Project Management Development Company is part of a group noted for reliability and is trusted to deal with the most high profile and sensitive of projects. 50 Real estate As the largest property developer in the Madinah region, Taiba has a unique understanding of local construction issues in the area. 51 The wise king The King Abdullah Foundation for His Parents’ involvement in KEC demonstrates its importance in bringing progress to a broad cross-section of Saudi Arabian society.

KEC MAGAZINE 2009 5

Contents 52 International shopping hotspot New retail brands are being drawn to the market in The Kingdom by growing consumer demand and the development of well located malls. 60 Contemporary design, traditional values Saudi Arabia’s diverse architectural heritage, regional variations and outside influences have all been drawn upon in the creation of KEC’s built environment. 66 Wired for the future KEC, utilising technology to the maximum, is one of the most important elements in attaining Saudi Arabia’s objective to diversify away from its dependence on oil. 72 Gate’s way to the future As a leader in software, services and computer solutions and with over 90,000 people worldwide, Microsoft will play a vital role in KEC’s training and skills development. 75 Expert assistance KEC will benefit from unparalleled advice and assistance because of the involvement of ‘A-list’ strategic partners with international reputations. 76 The human network Cisco is not a company to ‘rest on its laurels’, as is demonstrated in its innovative application of internet technology for KEC. 78 Innovative design HOK invests considerable resources in technology and systems that improve inter-office collaboration, which ultimately benefits its clients. 80 Brilliant concentrations In advising KEC on knowledge cluster development, consultancy firm McKinsey and Company’s problem solving skills were put to good use.

82 Networking knowledge Integrated information and communications expertise is on tap for the benefit of KEC in the form of Southeast Asia’s telecoms giant Telekom Malaysia. 84 Capital As co-financial advisor for the KEC listing, NCB Capital’s investment banking expertise and market knowledge will be pivotal to the IPO’s success. 86 Financial powerhouse The other co-financial advisor for the KEC listing, Swicorp, will bring its regional experience and skills to bear to secure funding from the market. 88 Innovation and collaboration The changing nature of economies around the world is highlighted by the latest research and academic thinking on the ‘knowledge economy’.

114

100 Online kingdom Changes in Saudi society and the growing importance of the role of communications technology are reflected in the numbers accessing the web for business, blogging and social networking. 104 Infrastructure initiatives Major improvements in Saudi Arabia’s road, rail and air networks will benefit KEC. 110 Easy business Conducting business in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been made easier than ever with the removal of regulatory hurdles, simplification of the tax system and support for start-ups. 114 Busy doing nothing Saudi Arabia’s wealth of leisure activities range from breathtaking scenery and marvellous wildlife to superb shopping and exciting sport. 6 KEC MAGAZINE 2009

Photography: Alamy; Cour tesy of Foster & Par tners.

94 The cutting edge Make your business day easier and make the most of your leisure time with twenty of the most innovative products on the market.

SHIBH AL-JAZIRA CONTRACTING CO. PIONEERS IN CONSTRUCTION A Saudi Arabian Contracting Company founded in 1965 specialized in the field of Civil Works with the Head Office in Riyadh and five branches in different parts of Saudi Arabia and ten offices in different countries in Europe, Asia and Africa. Since it was established, the Company has carried out numerous infrastructure and superstructure projects in the fields of Roads, Bridges, Tunnels, Flyovers, Dams, Strategic Water Reservoirs, Sewage & Water networks, Buildings, dewatering, deep foundations, etc. In addition to the numerous projects the Company has executed since established, the Company and since over two and a half decades is implementing routine and preventive maintenance for the road networks in the most Important Regions in Saudi Arabia namely, Riyadh, Madina, Qaseem, Abha and Jeddah. The Company is an active member in several Local, Regional and International Organizations namely, International Road Federation, International Asphalt Pavement Association, International Tunneling Association, American Society of Civil Engineers, Arab Federation for Land Transport, the Gulf Association for Road Engineering and the Egyptian Federation for Construction and Building Contractors. The company has obtained ISO 9001/2000 together with many awards and Certificates of Appreciation.

History and Culture

A city of faith with many faces Madinah is a holy place revered by Muslims across the globe and its history, and the nature of life in the city today, are equally fascinating

In modern times, this relatively fertile landscape has been supported by water piped in from desalination plants on the Red Sea and a system of water recycling. Thanks to these efforts, Madinah has 60 parks across the city and 120 varieties of dates are still grown. It is also distinguished by the black rocks scattered on the two lava plains that surround the city, a legacy of the nearby volcano that erupted thousands of years ago. Madinah has a special place in the hearts of Saudis and Muslims worldwide and, above all else, the city is celebrated as the birthplace of Islam. Its full name means “The Enlightened City” – highly appropriate given its religious and regional significance. Every year its resident population of 900,000 Muslims is swelled by the two million pilgrims from all over the world who arrive to pay their respects at the mosque built by the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). The Prophet (pbuh) and his followers had fled from Makkah in 622 to escape persecution by the Quraish tribe. Such is the significance of this event that the year was set as the first in the Islamic calendar and is now known as Hijrah (emigration). He settled in Madinah, then known as Yathrib, creating the world’s first Islamic community and

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The Mosque of the Prophet (Masjid Al-Nabawi) is the second holiest mosque after the Masjid Al-Haram in Makkah and is the second to be founded by the Prophet Muhammed (pbuh), the first being Masjid Al-Quba.

bringing peace to the factions that had been fighting in the region and the Prophet (pbuh) and his followers subsequently spread the teachings of the Holy Qur’an throughout the city.

Triumphant return

Eight years after leaving Makkah, the Prophet (pbuh) made a triumphant return to instil Islam into the city, and although Makkah then became the spiritual home of Islam, Madinah remained its administrative heart and the second holiest site in the Muslim world. After the founding of the Saudi Arabian state in 1932, it became safer and easier for pilgrims to travel to Madinah, swiftly swelling the crowds of visitors and, because it is the cradle of Islam and the final resting place of the Prophet (pbuh), it remains a place that pilgrims continue to visit in their millions.

Photography: Werner Forman Archive / Museum of Islamic Ar ts, Cairo; Ar t Directors.co.uk / Ark Religion.com.

part from its unique religious status, Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah (generally referred to as Madinah) is also a geographically special part of Saudi Arabia. Situated 250km east of the Red Sea in the Western part of Saudi Arabia, it lies at the junction of three valleys, 595 metres above sea level. In pre-Islamic days it was surrounded by aquifers fed by the water running down from the three mountains surrounding the city. This plentiful water supply meant that the ancient city could support date palms and vegetable gardens and thus it became an important refuelling stop for the caravans that travelled from the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula along the Red Sea to Syria and Egypt.

History and Culture

The Prophet’s Mosque (Masjid Al-Nabawi), now one of the focal points for Muslim pilgrimages, was originally built in 622. The very first structure was extremely simple, supported by the trunks of palm trees, and has been added to progressively over the years.

“The city, situated 250km east of the Red Sea in the North-Western part of Saudi Arabia, is celebrated as the birthplace of Islam” The Prophet himself (pbuh) is buried under the structure in his house, which originally stood next to the mosque but is now incorporated into the main structure. After his death, the first three caliphs, Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq, Omar Ibn Al-Khattab and Othman Ibn Affan, continued to administer the expanding Islamic nation from Madinah, which had by now spread to Persia and Syria. Abu Bakr and Omar were subsequently

Below: An 1850’s drawing of Madinah by Richard Burton. Above right: This 16th century Egyptian tile shows a schematic view of the city.

buried in a separate chamber next to the Prophet. Othman and several members of the Prophet’s (pbuh) immediate family were buried at the nearby Baqi’ Cemetery.

A greater mosque

Over the years after 1932, the number of pilgrims visiting the Prophet’s Mosque continued to grow and King Abdul Aziz Al-Saud issued a royal decree ordering its expansion, a plan brought to fruition by his son, King Saud Bin Abdul Aziz. This first Saudi expansion was the largest the mosque had ever seen, and doubled its size. Still the number of pilgrims grew and the average of 100,000 pilgrims a year in the early 1950’s rose to one million in 1970. In 1973 King Faisal Bin Abdul Aziz ordered the construction of awnings on the west side of the mosque as temporary protection from the elements for visitors. The numbers exceeded two million in 1980 and in 1981 King Fahd Bin Abdul Aziz began research into plans for further extensions that would ultimately result in a five-fold increase in the size of the mosque. Today, it is one hundred times larger than it was when the Prophet (pbuh) first established it.

KEC MAGAZINE 2009 11

residents work in the hotels dotted across the city, including the international chains Sheraton and Hilton, and Rezidor Hotel Group will open the Al Muna Karim Radisson Blu hotel this year. This aspect of Madinah’s life is set to be developed further when a college of tourism is finished. Building began in June 2009, part of a country-wide investment in the hospitality trade by the Saudi Arabian government. Other small-scale industries in Madinah include pottery, bricks, tiles, and metalworking, as well as agriculture. The city held its first date festival in November 2008 to celebrate its achievements in this industry.

The seven-year project was a huge undertaking. Seventy billion Saudi riyals were spent recreating both the Prophet’s Mosque and the mosque in Makkah. Three extensions were created on three sides of the original mosque, and a huge new courtyard was paved with marble and inlaid with geometric Islamic designs. There are roofed prayer areas and 27 open-air courtyards which have concrete domes that slide over when the weather is bad. Six new minarets, 123 metres high, were added to the four existing ones. They are topped by an 8 metre brass crescent weighing close to five tones. The floor area was expanded to 165,000 square metres – enough space for 700,000 visitors to pray simultaneously. The courtyard surrounding the mosque was given mechanised retractable ‘umbrellas’ to shield the space when necessary and parking spaces for 5,000 cars were added. An airconditioning unit was created that pumps 77,000 litres of chilled water a minute into the mosque from a plant 7 kilometres away. Lights mounted on marble and brass pillars illuminate the entire area at night. The original giant green dome, built under the leadership of Ottoman Sultan Suleyman 1 in the 1500’s, remains the focal point of the building.

Helpful and co-operative people

Madinah residents are known to be helpful and cooperative and many act as unofficial guides to the mosque or run stalls in the large market that surrounds it. Indeed, it is fair to say that at present Madinah is almost exclusively orientated to servicing religious tourism. Many

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Another significant part of Madinah is the King Fahd Holy Qur’an Printing Complex, creating 14 million translated copies of the Qur’an annually, which is currently available in 33 languages, with more in preparation. The establishment employs 1,500 scholars, artists and technicians.

“After the founding of the Saudi Arabian state in 1932, it became safer and easier for pilgrims to travel to Madinah, swiftly swelling the crowds” Copies of the Qur’an produced here are distributed free at mosques within Saudi Arabia and throughout the world. The city is also the home of Taibah University, where students study subjects including computing, medicine, engineering and dentistry.

Modern health care

Madinah boasts a modern health care network of nine major hospitals and 76 health care centres, which provide services to residents as well as religious pilgrims.

Photography: Madinahvision.com

A view into the courtyard of Masjid Al-Nabawi.

As befitting the city where Islam was conceived, Madinah is also the site of an Islamic University, a place where young Muslim men can receive a free place to study all aspects of Islamic life. Eighty per cent of these are international students.

History and Culture

A plan to develop the region’s electricity supply and boost the number of hospital beds to 1,000 is also being worked on: in the Hajj season, numerous temporary health centres are set up to ensure that permanent facilities are not overburdened. During this time the number of flights coming into the city’s Prince Mohammad Bin Abdul Aziz Airport triples from its usual 25 per day.

Sustaining the city’s character

The regional development plan, created in 2005, proposed to limit the growth of population in the city to 1.2 million in order to sustain its character. There are plans for developments within the suburbs which will provide accommodation for the 20,000 workers that it is planned will staff the businesses in the Knowledge Economic City. The new Haramain railway, now in its initial construction phase, will connect Madinah to Jeddah in only two hours. The British architects, Foster & Partners were appointed in May to design the stations, which include two others in Makkah and King Abdullah Economic City.

Photography: Madinahvision.com

There are plans to develop the airport, in three phases, so that it can cope with

an annual 30 million visitors. The first phase, due to be completed by 2012, will boost capacity to 12 million and include the building of a dedicated lounge for foreign pilgrims and a mosque with room for 1,000 people. Alongside the commercial developments, the Prophet’s Mosque is being expanded to even greater proportions. With projections that the mosque could soon be receiving 10 million annual pilgrims, King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, ordered an expansion of its eastern and western sides and work began in January 2009. The new SR4.7 billion project includes 182 huge umbrellas to protect 200,000 worshippers from sun and rain. The expansion of the eastern courtyard of the mosque will create an additional capacity for 70,000 worshippers with an underground parking area for 420 cars and 70 large buses. Three tunnels will also be constructed to connect the mosque with the King Faisal Road 1 and the project also includes the construction of new streets and pavements and electrification of the areas around the mosque. When finished, the new mosque complex will cover all of the residential areas of old Madinah. Modern Madinah, skilfully blended with the ancient, points the way to a dynamic and exciting future, not just for Saudis but for all Muslims and all others with an interest in science and knowledge and the benefits these, properly used, can confer upon mankind.

Huge umbrellas will offer shade to the worshippers at Masjid Al-Nabawi.

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History and Culture

Important sites around Madinah

Masjid Qiblatain – Also known as the mosque of two qiblas because it includes two directions of prayer – Jerusalem as well as Makkah. This is where the Prophet (pbuh) was instructed by Allah to start praying towards Makkah. Masjid Qiblatain

Maidan Salah – A rock ‘city’ of tombs carved into rock and believed to be 2,000 years old, this spectacular place is a favourite on the tourist trail, although the journey from Madinah takes several hours. Maidan Salah

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Masjid Quba

Jannat al Baqi – In this cemetery, situated just to the southeast of the Prophet’s Mosque, are buried many family members of the Prophet (pbuh). It also contains the graves of some of his followers, including the third caliph, Uthman ibn Affan. Jannat al Baqi

Mount Uhad – This forms the backdrop to Madinah and is the site of a famous battle that saw the Prophet’s (pbuh) army defeat that of the Makkahns.

Mount Uhad

Photography: Madinahvision.com; Dr. S. Coyne/AAA Collection.

Masjid Quba – Known in English as the Mosque of Piety and standing in what used to be the small village of Quba, and now part of Madinah about 3km from Masjid AlNabawi, this was the first mosque created by the Prophet (pbuh). It was rebuilt in 1986 to a design created by architect Abdel-Wahed El-Wakil. The mosque now features a prayer hall raised on a second storey platform and four minarets, while the courtyard is decorated with red, white and black marble and Arabesque latticework, reflecting the original style. The prayer hall connects to an area that includes a residential part, shops, a library and offices.

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KSA Economic Overview

A bright future beyond oil The prosperity of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has long been dependent on its oil resources. However, substantial investment in education and infrastructure is paving the way for greater economic diversity

Global consultancy McKinsey & Company describes the Kingdom as “the awakening giant.” It says in a recent report called Perspectives on MENASA (Middle East, North Africa and South Asia) that despite being the largest economy in the Gulf and accounting for 48 per cent of the region’s GDP, “this relative strength has masked a weakness – Saudi Arabia has historically been a closed, slow growing economy and between 1990 and 2002, its GDP grew by only two per cent per year.” However, in the last five years the Kingdom has recognised the importance of liberalising its economy to allow it to move beyond oil and provide a sustainable future for its rapidly growing population. Dr John Kotilaine, chief economist of NCB Capital Research, says “today the Kingdom’s competitive advantage obviously lies mainly in hydrocarbons. However, the government has a clear vision for addressing this reliance and is focusing on the changes needed to bring about a more broad-based economy.”

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Oil remains vital

That doesn’t mean that oil is no longer of vital importance to Saudi Arabia. According to figures from NCB Capital Research, the oil sector contributed 82.5 percent to Saudi Arabia’s budget revenues of US$106.67 billion in 2007. But oil prices fluctuate wildly. In July 2008 oil reached an all time high of US$147 a barrel but five months later it had fallen to only US$40 a barrel as the global economic crisis deepened and demand for oil plummeted. However, in the long term, analysts expect oil prices to continue to rise as demand increases in emerging markets such as China and India. The International Energy Agency estimates that demand from Asian countries is set to double by 2030. Saudi Arabia has benefited hugely from the generally high oil prices in recent years and earned around US$548.5 billion from oil exports between 2003 and 2007. Much of this has been ploughed into sustainable development and infrastructure such as roads, airports, water desalination, energy and the education system. As Western nations deal with the complexities of increasingly ageing

Photography: Photoshot.

hink of Saudi Arabia and you think of oil. Since the 1970s, its wealth and political might have been based on so-called “black gold.” Saudi Arabia is the world’s largest oil producer and has 22 percent of the global oil reserves, but there is more to this vast nation than hydrocarbons. Under the leadership of King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, it has sought to diversify its economy and create growth by moving into new sectors including telecommunications, banking, infrastructure, tourism, metals and mining, in a bid to end its reliance on highly volatile oil prices.

KSA Economic Overview

“The government has prioritised investment in education and healthcare in order to boost the presence of nationals in the economy and to stimulate development of knowledge intensive sectors,” says Dr. Kotilaine. “Saudi Arabia’s young population is likely to be one of its key advantages going forward,” he adds. Saudi Arabia has also invested heavily in its university system and the King Abdullah University of Science & Technology (KAUST) on the shores of the Red Sea, 80 kilometres north of Jeddah, opened recently. With US$10 billion invested in the project by the Saudi government it is the sixth-richest university in the world.

Above: Vast refineries like Ras Tanura (above) bear witness to oil’s enduring importance to the Saudi economy, but the prospect of a non-hydrocarbon future is driving investment in the knowledge society and new educational facilities, such as King Abdullah University of Science & Technology (below right).

Photography: Cour tesy of King Abdullah University of Science & Technology.

populations, Saudi Arabia is experiencing huge population growth. It has a young workforce – 34 per cent of its people are under the age of 15 and only six percent are aged over 60, but many of these young people are unemployed.

This graduate-level research institution will focus on energy and the environment, biosciences and bioengineering, materials science and engineering, and applied mathematics and computational science. Its mission is not only to contribute to the world’s scientific output, it is also an integral part of the Kingdom’s ambitious plan to transform itself from an oil-based economy to one built on knowledge. King Abdullah, the driving force behind KAUST, has ambitious plans for the university and

“In the last five years the Kingdom has recognised the importance of liberalising its economy to allow it to move beyond oil and provide a sustainable future for its rapidly growing population” Expatriate expertise

Saudi Arabia has long relied on expatriate expertise – some five million foreign nationals live in the country. As a result, major educational reforms have been introduced and some US$1.3 billion invested to improve schools and the national curriculum to provide Saudi Arabia’s young and rapidly expanding population with the skills they will need for the future. Out goes traditional learning by rote in favour of an emphasis on science and technology, analysis and real-world problem solving.

KEC MAGAZINE 2009 17

KSA Economic Overview The Vision

An icon of excellence

of a larger plan to diversify the economy and create jobs for Saudi nationals. The decision to grant travel agencies the right to sponsor tourists has helped in significantly reducing the processing time for visas thereby encouraging foreigners to enter the Kingdom.”

The beguiling vision for KEC marries enlightened economic goals with cultural and religious aspirations. We delve into the beliefs, history and contemporary challenges that lie behind a vision for a new metropolis

The relaxation of rules on tourism is just one in a raft of liberalisation measures that has opened up the Kingdom’s economy. In December 2005, Saudi Arabia joined the World Trade Organisation which has resulted in increased transparency, a better environment for domestic investment and more foreign investment particularly in banking, insurance, wholesale, retail and franchise distribution services, telecoms A calligrapher at the King Complex Printing thegrew Holy by and IT. Fahd Foreign directforinvestment Deep Marwaha, Event Director of Cityscape Saudi Arabia, is confidentQuran of continuing in Madinah transcribes the text. 33 per cent to US$24.3 billion in 2007 high levels of investment in real estate. aided by the removal of minimum capital requirements for foreign investors the he Knowledge Economic City (KEC) of Madinah The combination of its cultural andand religious slashing the corporate from 45 says: “Itwas is my desire that this new university becomes one launched by King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, heritage of means Madinah tax hasrate always per centatomagnet 20 perfor cent. of the world’s great of research; it educates Custodian of institutions the Two Holy Mosques, that in June 2006, proved Muslim talent from and trains of scientists, engineers and andfuture is the generations third of six economic cities. all over the world. But the reforming King technologists; and that it fosters, on the basis of merit and Abdullah, a beacon of optimism, tolerance “Anyone who doubtsthinking, the potential for excellence, cooperation withbillion) other great and progressive is keen to build The guidingcollaboration vision for the and SR30 billion (US$8 research the private sector.” on high the city’slevels popularity a programme project isuniversities for it to be and a “Global Icon for Excellence in continued ofwith real estate beyond job creation to urban Islamic Civilisation”, as Madinah itself has been for much investmentthatinextends Saudi Arabia only has to Youth and real renewal, modern education and loosening of its history. KEC estate is designed, like the other Economic examine the statistics; theestablishment population With young real estate will become the grip of the religious on Cities,a to boostpopulation, regional development and providean is growing at 2.5 percent year” increasingly sector in Saudi Arabia. The country a society that has doubled a in size over -the employment important for the country’s growing population. It will suffers a severe housingaims shortage and as on younger past 18 years. event director achievefrom these praiseworthy by focusing healthcare, Deep Marwaha, people are tourism gradually adopting education, and ICT. western style living of Cityscape Saudi Arabia arrangements and choosing to live in small nuclear families In short, Economic Cities will provide a rather than KEC in extended groups,Saudi thereArabia will be and even substantial boost to Saudi Arabia’s social It is hoped will helpfamily to position greater demand for housing. Deep Marwaha, event director Attracting foreign and economic affairs.investment But the modernisation young Saudi Arabian entrepreneurs as internationally of Cityscape SaudiinArabia, a real estateindustries, conferenceand held The Saudi Arabian General Investment programme at Madinah is being undertaken respected leaders knowledge-based in in this year, saysand “anyone who doubts thearound potential Authority (SAGIA) is working hard with to attract with enormous cultural sensitivity, the so June doing will attract develop talent from the for continued of real estate investment in Saudi more foreign anda estimates that expected finalinvestment result being harmonious world. But as high well levels as acting as a catalyst for economic Arabia only has to examine the statistics – theand population is FDI inflows reachand US$900 billion in the blend of thewill ancient modern. development in knowledge-based industries growing at a 2.5 per cent year.” a knowledge society, next ten years in sectors such as energy, facilitating major shift atowards financial health and life sciences. Its the accommodation, leisure facilities and transport and Ancient services, and modern The hotel and tourism sector isinalso enjoying growth and attempts promote theProphet Kingdom as business communications infrastructure KEC will benefit residents Since thetotime of The Muhammad will much greater focus for the Kingdom. Saudi friendly paid has off and in the and become visitors, a too. (pbuh), have Madinah played anWorld almost Arabia is the hub for religious tourism in the Muslim world Bank’s EaseinofIslamic Doing Business report iconic role civilization. The2007, attracting Saudi was rankedthe themosque 23rd most SaudisArabia have expanded Inclusivityfive million pilgrims every year to Islam’s holiest sites, Makkahapproach and Madinah. attractive business the world. to a greater extentenvironment than any ofintheir This inclusive is in itself consistent with Madinah’s predecessors, while at the same time trying history. One of the oldest inhabited cities in the world, NCB Capital Research that in have 2008,built “thecommunities sector was the The Worldthe Bank alsoprosperity rates Saudi to secure future of Arabia the city as different tribes over thesays centuries most profitable one in the Kingdom with a and 102rivers, per cent year the place to by do embracing business in leadingthe entire andeasiest its inhabitants and even civilizations among its valleys often on year growth in profitability” adding that “the development Middle East/North edge initiatives suchAfrica as theregion. digitalAmong economy co-existing peacefully while preserving their own values of thedistinct Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s tourism sector forms part Arab countries, the Kingdom is the easiest and e-government. and characters.

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Photography: © Cour tesy of Cityscape Saudi Arabia. Photography: Kazuyoshi Nomachi/Corbis.

KSA Economic Overview

place to register property, get credit, and start a business; and it is the seventh easiest place in the world to pay taxes. “Saudi Arabia is ahead of all Middle Eastern and Arab countries, and even some European countries,” says Amr Al Dabbagh, Governor and Chairman of the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA). “This is confirmation that Saudi Arabia is very much open for business.”

Photography: Cour tesy of WTO/Annette Walls-Lynch.

As well as attracting overseas investment, Saudi Arabia is also focusing on home-grown entrepreneurship. The Supreme Economic Council has endorsed a privatisation strategy which is intended to improve economic efficiency, boost competitiveness and attract domestic and foreign investors. NCB Capital Research says in its publication Saudi Arabia Factbook: Gateway to the Kingdom, that targets for privatisation include aviation, railroads, industrial city services and social, agricultural and medical services.

In a bid to increase further competitiveness and boost the economy, the Kingdom has instituted the 10x10 mission. This is introducing reforms and targeted investments to position Saudi Arabia among the world’s Top 10 most competitive economies by 2010. It has made a number of improvements relating to the provision of credit, protecting investors, and trading across borders.

“Saudi Arabia’s young population is likely to be one of its key advantages going forward” - Dr. John Kotilaine, chief economist, NCB Capital Research Additionally, Saudi Arabia was a part of the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) for the first time in 2007-2008. At 35th place, the Kingdom received the highest ranking of any new entrant to the index, and one of the highest rankings in the MENA region. One of the Kingdom’s strongest differentiators was its exceptional macroeconomic stability – ranked third in the world.

Saudi Arabia joined the World Trade Organisation in 2005, since when foreign direct investment has grown at a phenomenal rate. Above, WTO Director-General, Pascal Lamy, and the Saudi Arabian Minister of Commerce, Hashim Yamani, sign the agreement.

KEC MAGAZINE 2009 19

KSA Economic Overview

Saudi Arabia’s maritime sector is predicted to grow by 5.8 % a year. Above, the port at Jeddah.

Part of the 10x10 mission is Saudi Arabia’s creation of four new economic cities which will rise from the desert and create over a million jobs. SAGIA says the economic cities will “significantly alter the economic landscape of Saudi Arabia while providing a wealth of Greenfield opportunities to investors.” It adds that as special economic zones these cities will boost business through centralized “One-Step Shops” which will facilitate market entry to spur business formation. They will also provide world-class infrastructure and enable the creation of clusters that will stimulate growth in strategic sectors. In addition, special incentives will catalyse foreign and domestic investment and the high quality of living will attract foreign technical experts and accelerate knowledge transfer. Work on these economic cities is underway and SAGIA says that despite the global economic downturn they are on schedule. Mr. Al Dabbagh explains that the current economic climate even has some advantages: “We believe the global economic slowdown is presenting lots of opportunities. Had you asked me six months back what are the main challenges facing these economic cities and mega projects, I would have said skyrocketing prices of building materials, lack of capacity in construction contracting companies, lack of equipment and lack of human capital. All these have disappeared and we are accelerating construction to take advantage of the depressed price of building materials.”

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The new economic cities will also cement Saudi Arabia’s growing importance as a transportation hub. The Kingdom announced in its budget this year that it will spend US$5.1 billion on either new transport projects or the expansion and upgrading or seaports, airports and road and rail networks. Moreover, while many ports around the world are struggling to formulate a strategy that will steer them out of the global economic crisis which has slowed down ocean trade, Saudi Arabia, strategically located between Europe and Asia, is weathering the storm. Research from Business Monitor International predicts that the Kingdom’s maritime sector will grow by 5.8 per cent a year and with new seaports being constructed at Jizan Economic City and King Abdullah Economic City, it’s a sector that holds much potential. As liberalisation takes hold, Saudi Arabia is offering a wide range of opportunities for both foreign and domestic investors in a range of sectors which SAGIA says will enable the Kingdom to “achieve rapid economic growth, capitalising on the Kingdom’s competitive strengths as the global capital of energy, and as a major hub between East and West.”

Photography: AFP/Getty Images.

Job creation

Diversification Strategy

Widening the opportunities for business The Economic Cities concept is the mainstay of Saudi Arabia’s carefully planned drive to broaden its economy, with a smart strategy shaped by meticulous study of the world’s most successful free economic zones

cross Saudi Arabia vibrant new cities are rising. With a wide range of industries, businesses, office developments, high quality housing, schools, hospitals and leisure facilities they will become home to some five million people in the next decade and are viewed as the key to the Kingdom’s social and economic future.

Saudi Arabia has one of the world’s fastest growing populations, which is expected to grow by a third to 33 million people in the next decade. Demographically, it is in complete contrast to many Western nations as 34 per cent of its people are under the age of 15 and only six per cent are aged over 60 Saudi Arabia is now investing US$1.3 billion in improving its educational system to equip young people with the scientific and technological skills they need to take the country forward.

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KEC will play a central role in shaping the Kingdom’s economy in a more plural and technological future.

Housing shortage

As well as education and jobs, Saudi Arabia’s young people need homes. According to recent research from global real estate consultants, CB Richard Ellis, the country has a current shortage of two million homes and will need an additional 1.4 million over the next decade as the population rises. The solution is four new high tech cities, built from scratch and spread around the Kingdom. Currently much of the nation’s wealth is concentrated in a few areas – Riyadh, Makkah and the Eastern province – which are home to approximately 64 per cent of the population. By building

Photography: Cour tesy of Knowledge Economic City.

Although Saudi Arabia’s wealth and power is based on oil, the government has recognised that it must move beyond petrochemical industries and diversify its economy. Oil prices are highly volatile and for long term security, prosperity and sustainability, it needs to move into new industrial and knowledge-based sectors such as IT, biotechnology and medical sciences which will provide employment for a rapidly expanding population.

Diversification Strategy

Dr John Sfakianakis, then chief economist of SABB (Saudi British Bank), says in a recent report on Saudi Arabia’s economy that “Regional development is paramount to the Kingdom’s growth and King Abdullah Economic City, together with the rest of the economic cities, is conceptually at the heart of an effort to bridge regional disparities.”

“Although Saudi Arabia’s wealth and power is based on oil, the government has recognised that it must move beyond hydrocarbons and diversify its economy” He also says that “the core of economic cities projects is the question of job creation for Saudis. Employment generation is a must in order to achieve sustainable development as the private sector is highly dependent on foreign labour.”

Boosting competitiveness

new cities, Saudi Arabia can ensure that wealth is more evenly distributed in geographical terms and can slow migration to major urban hubs that simply do not have the housing to accommodate an influx of people. The new cities are the King Abdullah Economic City in Rabigh on the Red Sea coast north of Jeddah, Prince Abdul Aziz bin Mousaed Economic City in Hail in the northern-central region of the country, Jizan Economic City in Jizan near the border with Yemen and of course the subject of this publication: Knowledge Economic City in the Holy City of Madinah. According to the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA), the new cities are expected to contribute more than US$150 billion in annual GDP and create over a million jobs by 2020.

Each of the four cities is designed to broaden and diversify Saudi Arabia’s economy, make the country more competitive and also attract substantial foreign investment. “The private sector is playing a vital role in the Kingdom’s economic development,” Tahir Mohammed Bawazir, Chief Executive Officer of Knowledge Economic City Developers Ltd, the company behind KEC, is quoted as saying, “Economic cities provide vast opportunity for the private sector to get involved in gigantic projects,” he adds. King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) is the single largest private sector project in the region and the US$27 billion needed to develop it will be entirely funded by private capital. SAGIA believes it has the potential to create one million jobs and be home to two million residents. The city is being built by a consortium headed by global real estate giant Emaar Properties and a number of Saudi investors It consists of six elements: the Seaport, the Industrial

KEC MAGAZINE 2009 23

Diversification Strategy

Zone, the Educational Zone, the Central Business District, including the Financial Island which will take advantage of the growing worldwide interest in Islamic banking and finance, and the residential districts and resorts. Jizan Economic City (JEC) located on the Red Sea has abundant labour and raw materials and will focus on a range of industries including oil, aluminium, steel and copper as well as being home to a new port and international airport. The Prince Abdul Aziz bin Mousaed Economic City (PABMEC) is set to be the largest and most modern transportation and logistics hub in the Middle East, with state-of-the-art dry port operations, capable of handling over 1.5 million tonnes of cargo annually, rail links to Jordan and Iraq and an international airport and land freight facilities. The project is intended to leverage the region’s strengths in agriculture and minerals and is expected to create 55,000 new jobs.

will be outside the area forbidden to nonMuslims where they can live and work.”

Windows to the future

As part of Saudi Arabia’s need to invest in human capital and increase the skills of its population, KEC is creating partnerships with a number of global IT companies. For example, it has joined forces with Microsoft to establish a Microsoft academy to train Saudis in software and IT.

“By building new cities, Saudi Arabia can ensure that wealth is more evenly distributed in geographical terms and can slow migration to major urban hubs that simply do not have the housing to accommodate an influx of people” World class hub

Finally, the Knowledge Economic City close to the Holy City of Madinah, will focus on technology, IT and software, education and Islamic culture. Its developers believe it can become a regional hub for knowledge based industries. A number of business incubators will also be established to support Saudi entrepreneurs. Mr. Bawazir says: “KEC will become a new hub where future innovators will be able to develop their ideas, grow and become tomorrow’s scientists and technology leaders of the Islamic world.” As one of the most important sites in Islam, KEC will also create an interactive museum based around Islamic civilization and the life of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and expects to draw in religious tourists as well as Muslims who want to live and work near Madinah. Mr. Bawazir says “Muslims will be attracted to KEC for the chance to work and study near the Holy City of Madinah but we also want to attract non-Muslims – there is part of the new city that

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The entrance to King Abdullah Economic City in Jeddah.

Diversification Strategy

At a cost of more than US$60 billion, Saudi Arabia believes that its four economic cities – with two more planned for the future – will promote balanced regional development, diversify the economy, create jobs, improve the Kingdom’s competitiveness and most importantly, provide a future beyond oil. Clearly, within this context, KEC has a very important role to play in propelling the Kingdom’s economy into a more plural and technological era.

Photography: AFP/Getty Images.

Dr. Khaled Al Dhaher, General Manager for Microsoft in Saudi Arabia, says: “At Microsoft we have always believed that one of the most important aspects of technology is its potential to create social and economic opportunities.” He adds “this strategic partnership with KEC will help propel local scientific and technological innovation as new ideas create new businesses and new jobs. Building local capacity for innovation and entrepreneurship is essential for the people of Saudi Arabia to participate in the success of the knowledge economy.”

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The Vision

An icon of excellence The beguiling vision for KEC marries enlightened economic goals with cultural and religious aspirations. We delve into the beliefs, history and contemporary challenges that lie behind a vision for a new metropolis A calligrapher at the King Fahd Complex for Printing the Holy Quran in Madinah transcribes the text.

The guiding vision for the SR30 billion (US$8 billion) project is for it to be a “Global Icon for Excellence in Islamic Civilisation”, as Madinah itself has been for much of its history. KEC is designed, like the other Economic Cities, to boost regional development and provide employment for the country’s growing population. It will achieve these praiseworthy aims by focusing on healthcare, education, tourism and ICT. It is hoped KEC will help to position Saudi Arabia and young Saudi Arabian entrepreneurs as internationally respected leaders in knowledge-based industries, and in so doing will attract and develop talent from around the world. But as well as acting as a catalyst for economic development in knowledge-based industries and facilitating a major shift towards a knowledge society, the accommodation, leisure facilities and transport and communications infrastructure in KEC will benefit residents and visitors, too.

Inclusivity

This inclusive approach is in itself consistent with Madinah’s history. One of the oldest inhabited cities in the world, different tribes over the centuries have built communities and even civilizations among its valleys and rivers, often co-existing peacefully while preserving their own values and distinct characters.

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The combination of its cultural and religious heritage means Madinah has always proved a magnet for Muslim talent from all over the world. But the reforming King Abdullah, a beacon of optimism, tolerance and progressive thinking, is keen to build on the city’s popularity with a programme that extends beyond job creation to urban renewal, modern education and loosening the grip of the religious establishment on a society that has doubled in size over the past 18 years. In short, Economic Cities will provide a substantial boost to Saudi Arabia’s social and economic affairs. But the modernisation programme at Madinah is being undertaken with enormous cultural sensitivity, with the expected final result being a harmonious blend of the ancient and modern.

Ancient and modern

Since the time of The Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), Madinah has played an almost iconic role in Islamic civilization. The Saudis have expanded the mosque to a greater extent than any of their predecessors, while at the same time trying to secure the future prosperity of the city and its inhabitants by embracing leadingedge initiatives such as the digital economy and e-government.

Photography: © Kazuyoshi Nomachi/Corbis.

he Knowledge Economic City (KEC) of Madinah was launched by King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, in June 2006, and is the third of six economic cities.

The Vision

So it is fitting that the Saudis are now spearheading the latest and most adventurous manifestation of diverse and harmonious co-habitation within Madinah. As well as wanting to create an economically viable catalyst for knowledgebased industries, SAGIA was keen to establish an alternative and improved central business district for Madinah, with high-quality facilities and infrastructure easily accessible by Madinah’s visitors and residents as well as by businesses. The smart urban environment will attract new residents and knowledge workers, while a theme park, world-class hotels, restaurants, along with superb shopping facilities, make it a compelling tourist destination in its own right.

“The modernisation programme at Madinah is being undertaken with enormous cultural sensitivity, with the expected final result being a harmonious blend of the ancient and modern” Yet this apparently temporal picture of development is leavened by considerable sensitivity to the spiritual and cultural heritage of Madinah. For example, while residents, businesses and visitors will enjoy a comprehensive range of services, open spaces and sophisticated transport and communications infrastructures, the design of KEC reflects the pattern of the classic Islamic architecture of Madinah, lending the modern development a fascinating sense of spiritual and heritage.

Vision in motion

What’s more, the new transport network, which includes a high speed rail link from Makkah to Madinah, will further enhance the infrastructure linkage and accessibility to other major cities and economic centres in Saudi Arabia. There will be a major retail hub, comprising 1,200 shops in KEC, but these will be modelled on the traditional old souks of Madinah. The theme park will focus on the Islamic civilization, allowing visitors to explore the history and heritage of the Prophet and Islamic civilisation by means of the latest multimedia, laser and digital technologies. By the time KEC is completed in 2020, it is hoped that the fusion of these elements will have created 20,000 new job opportunities, attracted a population of 150,000 people, and provided accommodation for 30,000 visitors. If it achieves those ambitious targets, it will surely have secured Madinah’s position as the global icon for excellence in Islamic civilisation. After a huge amount of work, a remarkable vision will have been transformed into an astonishing reality.

Photography © Kazuyoshi Nomachi/Corbis.

A hand-tinted card showing Madinah in the time of the Ottoman occupation. The minarets of the Prophet’s Mosque can be seen on the skyline.

The Mission

A beacon of knowledge KEC’s exciting mission is built on three sturdy pillars which reveal the underlying goals that will shape a modern and sustainable knowledge based community

onsider the idea that, in another 100 years, people will probably look back at 2009 and find its touchscreen phones, chemical, pharmaceuticals and fossil fuel basis all somewhat strange and quaint. If you do so, it should underline the importance of research and development, as technology and science across the disciplines become increasingly important to populations across the globe.

It is clear why KEC is important to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. As the ‘unknown’ of a knowledge-based future begins to take shape, governments are increasingly being called upon to prepare their economies for what lies ahead. Broadly speaking, that’s the work of the Knowledge Economic City.

Mission statement: part one

The city itself has a clearly-defined mission, based on three simple and distinct threads. The first of these is to leverage Madinah’s reputation as a “Beacon of Knowledge”. For some 14 centuries, Madinah has been a place of learning and it is a thriving conurbation, a centre of education, from elementary to university level. It is also the site of a healthy business sector. The KEC itself would perfectly leverage the city and its reputation and affection in the hearts and minds of Muslims worldwide. It will also raise the profile of a city that has

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Madinah has been a place of learning since the 6th century.

certainly been important to communities in Europe historically, given the prevalence of Islam along the Mediterranean coast early in the last millennium.

Mission statement: part two

The second thread of the mission statement is “developing KEC as a planned community in a smart environment with distinctive lifestyle.” In this instance, “smart” refers to the high level of connectivity envisaged by the project’s founders. It is their mission to provide the fastest and best connectivity to the Internet, including the use of fibre optic lines (which are capable of delivering speeds of 100mbps and more) as well as wireless local area network (WLAN or WiFi). This would not merely enable residents and employees to download material to and from the World Wide Web quickly. It would also enable more inter-device connectivity. Tahir Mohammed Bawazir, CEO of KEC explains: “What’s important for us is that people who are in the city should have complete connectivity while they move around, so they’re always connected.” He provides an example: “If you’re at home and you call me [via the internet], imagine if you could just leave wherever you’re

Photography: © ArabianEye.

It is with this future in mind that a consortium of Saudi Arabian businesses has joined forces with the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA) to create an entirely new business, residential and service concept. The purpose of the Knowledge Economic City at Madinah is to bring diversity to the Kingdom’s economy through industries that are not manufacturing based. Instead it will be a rock-solid enterprise that is dedicated to services, development and research.

The Mission

As Mr. Bawazir suggests, they will be able to move seamlessly through environments. “What do you want from a lifestyle point of view? You want flexibility, simplicity and enjoyment. Technology plays such an important part in that, whether commercial or residential,” he sums up.

Mission statement: part three

The third thread of the mission statement is: “Building a modern and economically sustainable, knowledge-based community.” In short, that means that the KEC will shy away from heavy industry, manufacturing and other highly physical, traditional wealth-creators. It will be purely ideas-based.

“What’s important for us is that people who are in the city, should have complete connectivity while they move around, so they’re always connected” - Tahir Mohammed Bawazir

sitting now and you happened to have an earpiece that is your mobile phone. You can move to your car and the conversation follows, and continues via your in-car system. Imagine being able to do multiple things with the capability of connectivity.” This strand of the mission, therefore, ensures that those living and working in the KEC, as well as leisure and business visitors, will have access to possibly one of the most advanced data delivery systems in the world. Access will be considered a utility, just as water or electricity. KEC is working with a range of partners to deliver its technological vision, including Cisco Systems. There is more at stake here than creature comfort. It is, in fact, a key mission statement for the overall success of KEC. Fast, pervasive connectivity will attract potential high-tech firms as well as the entrepreneurs who will encourage innovation from small and lean start-ups. Business and leisure tourists will not be without WiFi to their laptops, mobile handsets and whatever other smart devices the next decades bring, while residents will have no barriers to the convenience of such advances as high definition television delivered online (IP HDTV), video conferencing, or even video calls through services such as Skype, Yahoo! Messenger or iChat.

There is no doubt that the market for intellectual property is enormous, and getting bigger. The somewhat niche market for enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, for example, grew 5.5% during 2008, even as many sectors including manufacturing were slowing down or declining altogether. Worldwide, ERP software is a US$21.4billion industry, according to research from Gartner Group. Business intelligence firm Datamonitor valued the biotechnology market at US$172 billion in 2007. It predicts the market to be worth roughly US$276 billion by 2012.

Advanced diversification

KEC changes the game. It is a place of immense religious and traditional significance that will be married to a way of living that is unimaginably technologically advanced. Its mission is to be a place where pilgrims and 3D software developers, muezzins and 7.1 soundscape engineers, imams and entrepreneurs will feel at home as long term residents or short term visitors, moving the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia toward a diversified economy. As Mr Bawazir says: “We hope it will be a beacon for the Kingdom, the region, the Muslim world and the whole world, in that order. We intend it to be an example of how you can balance faith and modernity, spiritual and material, past and present, tradition and progress.”

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Objectives

The connected city The holy city of Madinah has long been a meeting point for pilgrims and visitors, so when King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, Custodian of the Two holy Mosques, was looking for a place to create a high-tech hub that would attract scientists, scholars, researchers and entrepreneurs from the Middle East and from further afield, Madinah seemed like a natural fit

ing Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz’s vision is a Knowledge Economic City (KEC) that would cement Madinah’s place on the world stage as not just a spiritual destination but also that of a vibrant, technologically advanced business location. The key objectives of creating a KEC at Madinah are four-fold. To establish an economically viable catalyst for knowledge-based industries; create an alternative central business district for Madinah with better facilities and infrastructure that is easily accessible to the city’s residents and visitors; establish a tourist destination supported by the unique theme park, world-class hospitality establishments and outstanding retail offer; and create a superior urban environment to attract Madinah’s residents, visitors and knowledge workers to live and work there. When fully built, the KEC, which has a total area of 4.8 million square metres, will have a built area of about 8 million square metres and will attract in the region of US$6.7 billion. It will be unrivalled in the region, providing employment for more than 20,000 people working in industrial, academic, cultural and commercial sectors. In turn, it will enhance the economic prosperity of Madinah.

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Photography: Ar t Directors.co.uk / Ark Religion.com.

Objectives

The holy city of Madinah, with the Prophetâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Mosque in the foreground.

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Objectives

This smart buildings technology is being delivered by market leading networking and communications behemoth Cisco and will make KEC a truly revolutionary offering in the region, according to Mr Bawazir. “KEC is due to be one of the first truly integrated greenfield smart cities and therefore will establish a new benchmark of high-tech infrastructure and high-tech capabilities, which will enable businesses and residents in KEC to take advantage of this to improve productivity and competitiveness.” “KEC residents and knowledge workers will have access to solutions and services that will be enabled through the KEC smart city information and communications technology infrastructure providing very high-speed connectivity and access throughout the city in an easy and efficient way,” concludes Mr Bawazir.

Cisco’s expertise and experience of dealing with projects of a similar scale will be key to ensuring the project is a roaring success. The company was the natural partner of choice for the KEC as it has an established track record of delivering infrastructure for similar projects throughout the globe. Another factor that swung the decision in its

“The superior urban environment will attract Madinah’s residents, visitors and knowledge workers to live and work there” favour is the company’s ground breaking Connected Real Estate initiative, which is based on the convergence of all buildings and IT systems. When fully implemented Cisco’s Connected Real Estate initiative will assist businesses within the KEC by reducing capital and operating costs. Residents will also benefit from the interconnected living environment, according to Caspar Herzberg, senior director of Cisco’s Connected Real Estate World Wide Advisory Practice. “For the longest times, IT and building management systems were not common,” explains Herzberg. “They were totally separated – diverged – environments. However, today, and through the IT backbone, developers and building/ facility managers have the opportunity to normalise all building systems and IT systems data.”

CEO Tahir Mohammed Bawazir says KEC will be one of the first truly integrated greenfield smart cities.

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Having a common set of systems and solutions that cater to both IT and building management systems carries significant operational benefits in addition to significant cost-saving benefits. The process will be further streamlined thanks to the use of Cisco’s cutting edge Smart Connected Buildings technology, a key component in delivering on the company’s vision for Smart+Connected Communities.

Photography: Cour tesy of Knowledge Economic City.

The KEC will be underpinned by state of the art smart city infrastructure that will maximise productivity and create an environment in which innovation can flourish. As KEC’s CEO, Tahir Mohammed Bawazir explains: “We plan to enable our buildings with smart buildings solutions working on a connected real estate base to manage and maintain the building environment to maximise efficiency and conserve energy.”

Objectives

“The solution builds on Cisco’s networked sustainability platform to further utilise the network to increase energy efficiency, create new tools for ‘energy-aware’ city management and enable economic opportunity and quality of life gains for citizens.” When this network is in place, all buildings within the KEC will be interconnected and can be managed over a secure internet protocol (IP) network. The network allows for data, voice, video and mobile communications across all of the KEC’s commercial and residential buildings making it one of the most technology advanced inter-connected cities in the region. Importantly, the network can also be easily updated and upgraded to handle any future changes in technology, Mr Bawazir says. “One of the biggest challenges is predicting future technology innovations and the evolving use of

technology, which is why we plan to provide a highly flexible future ICT infrastructure,” he explains. While the IT infrastructure is crucial to the KEC’s success, so too is the area’s ability to accommodate the predicted influx of new visitors to the region. The aforementioned business advantages of taking office space in the KEC will inevitably help to attract regional and global companies to the city, meaning that there will be a significant increase in business travellers to Madinah. The proposed retail area, theme park and highly attractive urban environment will also play a large part in bringing in tourists and holiday-makers. Therefore Prince Mohammed Bin Abdul Aziz Airport, which opened in the mid-1970s and currently handles mainly domestic flights with a limited schedule of international services, will play an increasingly important role in welcoming visitors to the region.

Prince Mohammad Bin Abdulaziz International Airport will be upgraded to full international specifications to make it a major hub.

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Photography: Cour tesy of Shaikhad.

“Smart+Connected Communities addresses the growing need for sustainable energy to meet the demand of increasingly urbanized populations by providing a network enabled blueprint for successful smart cities of the future that run on networked information,” explains Herzberg.

Oracle’s Solution for Smart Cities WHY ORACLE FOR SMART CITIES City leaders, including elected and appointed local authorities and their agency or department management, realize they must increase investment in infrastructure and improve service delivery despite rising costs and reduced budgets. They also understand that constituents want to see their tax dollars invested wisely, in an open and transparent fashion. Indeed, citizens are increasingly vocal in their communities, with many of them using other means of communications among themselves and with their community leaders, outside of the traditional town hall forums. Many electronic government initiatives have realized limited success in tackling the issues that drive substantial improvements in metrics such as proper usage of emergency services, increased use of public transportation, reduced caseworker loads, and so forth. True leaders in government and community organizations know that real integrated intelligence requires integration of government and constituents, a prerequisite for a city to become truly smart. These leaders recognize that city government must establish clear policies that can be implemented as automated and streamlined processes. This requires changes to culture, organizations, and the way technology is used by government and constituents. It also requires integration of the multitude of channels through which citizens and business communicate with government, focused on development of specialized group and personal relationships with constituents, building awareness of government services and plans, and setting expectations that can be met and openly reported on. Oracle’s solution for smart cities, which is based on our experience with local government customers and best-in-class technology and applications, enables you to do the following: • Resolve up to 90 percent (or more) of most government service requests through integrated multichannel services, including self-service Web/chat; local single number non-emergency services such as 311, 1823, 133, 115; social networking tools such as Facebook; Twitter; and traditional means of electonic communication such as e-mail, and so on • Analyze key areas--service delivery, infrastructure expenditures, program budgets and resourcing, constituent feedback, and others--to determine which services to prioritize, extend, consolidate, or even discontinue • Modernize IT infrastructure to enable integration and interoperability with the city’s existing siloed legacy IT infrastructure to enhance service delivery capability and facilitate cultural and organizational change

Objectives

“The Cisco Networking Academy program provides ICT skills to students globally to improve their career and economic opportunities,” explains Cisco’s Herzberg. “It operates in high schools, colleges, universities, technical and military schools, community-based organisations and government bodies. Its curriculum combines the theory and practice of designing, developing and implementing the networks that underpin business and other organisations. In addition, its advanced technology curricula in areas such as security, wireless and Internet protocol telephony provide exposure to the latest skills in those fields. It also has a module teaching basic ICT skills.” In addition to building a workforce that will be able to oversee and update the technology infrastructure that Cisco puts in place, the academy will create a talent pool of ICT-literate workers that will enhance the KEC’s appeal to multinational corporates.

All the buildings within KEC will be interconnected and can be managed over a secure internet protocol network.

The bulk of these visitors will be workers associated with the knowledge based industries housed at the KEC but there will also be a ready supply of medical workers drawn to the new hospital and traditional Islamic medicines clinic, and a large number of students taking advantage of the KEC’s university cluster, a grand library, international school as well as the proposed vocational, leadership and language institutes. The aim is to develop these students and enhance the human capital in Madinah and Saudi Arabia so that they can become the information and communications technology (ICT) workers of the future. Cisco will again have an important role to play in this regard, as the company has committed to creating a Networking Academy within the KEC, which will help to address the shortfall of local technology talent in the region.

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“KEC will be underpinned by state of the art smart city infrastructure that will maximise productivity and create an environment in which innovation can flourish” He remains confident that “our innovative approach and far reaching vision will drive a new generation of technology-based solutions that will benefit our community.” It will also help to establish the city as a leading technology hub on a par with those in the USA, Europe, or India, but with a major difference. While the KEC in Madinah will deliver the technology innovations of tomorrow, spirituality will be at the heart of everything that emanates from the city.

Photography: Cour tesy of Knowledge Economic City.

It is currently the fourth busiest airport in Saudi Arabia and is modestly equipped with a single storey terminal, but by the time that the KEC has been fully built, the airport will have been upgraded to full international specifications and will be capable of dealing with an expected increase in passenger traffic of around three million people a year.

Mr Bawazir says the KEC’s location, infrastructure and capabilities will be key drivers in attracting overseas companies to the city and to date the response to the smart city vision and strategy has been “positive and encouraging”.

SAGIA

A gateway to investment SAGIA chairman Amr Al-Dabbagh expounds on the vital role his organisation plays in stimulating investment and enhancing the business environment in Saudi Arabia

O “

ur vision is to act as a gateway to investment in Saudi Arabia,” explains His Excellency Amr Al-Dabbagh, chairman of the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA). “We want to capitalise on the Kingdom’s competitive strengths as the global capital of energy and as a major hub between East and West, by seeking to attract sufficient investment to achieve rapid and sustainable economic growth.” SAGIA is a Saudi government organisation dedicated to improving the country’s investment and business environment and to providing comprehensive services to all investors, both domestic and foreign, wishing to pursue business opportunities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The agency’s mission is no less ambitious than its vision. Mr. Al-Dabbagh explains: “We want to position Saudi Arabia among the top ten most competitive nations by 2010 – we call it our 10x10 strategy. We aim to do this through creating a positive business environment and a knowledge-based society, which together we hope will help make the country a popular investment destination in both regional and global terms.” SAGIA was established in April 2000 as the result of a suite of new legislation, including the Foreign Investment Law, designed to encourage foreign investment and foster a more efficient business environment. As well as acting as a catalyst to promote inward investment, the agency also facilitates the exchange of best practice between the public and private sectors, and serves as a

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(Left to right) Tahir M. Bawazir, CEO of KEC, Prince Abdulaziz bin Majid, Governor of Madinah and Amr Al-Dabbagh, Chairman of SAGIA view a scale model of KEC.

communication link between the business community and the Saudi government. It also helps to influence and actively manage the country’s investment and business environment by contributing to economic policy-making through policy proposals, business opportunity projects and research.

Powerful synergies

SAGIA seeks to match investment opportunities that are linked to the country’s competitive advantages with investors’ strategic, risk and financial profile, in order to create powerful synergies between the needs of investors and Saudi Arabia’s economic vision. One of its top priorities is to provide a comprehensive range of licensing and support services to investors while they set

SAGIA

Building on regional strength

SAGIA also believes that sustainable and balanced national economic development depends on careful regional development, which helps to prevent the migration of human and other resources from lessdeveloped areas of a country to urban centres. It is therefore co-operating with regional authorities to create regionspecific investment promotion plans and strategies that build on each region’s key strengths to enhance development in that particular region.

“We want to position Saudi Arabia among the top ten most competitive nations by 2010 - we call it our 10x10 strategy” - His Excellency Amr Al-Dabbagh, chairman of SAGIA

Photography: Cour tesy of SAGIA.

up their businesses. As part of this service, SAGIA will serve as a central repository of information about doing business in Saudi Arabia, providing key economic news and indicator reports, competitiveness studies, general statistics and economic research, and details of the country’s laws and regulations. But as well as wanting to attract major businesses to invest in Saudi Arabia, SAGIA is also committed to balanced regional growth objectives and to encouraging and supporting entrepreneurs. It does the latter through its support of the Centennial Fund, a national foundation dedicated to helping Saudi entrepreneurs with funding and mentoring. “We believe strongly in promoting the entrepreneurial spirit,” says Mr. Al-Dabbagh. “Integrating newly-minted entrepreneurs into the business community will result in future socio-economic benefits. The companies they build will generate job opportunities, foster economic creativity, and serve as a positive example to a new generation.”

Mr. Al-Dabbagh explains: “For example, developing Hail on the northern coast of Aqaba in the north-west of Saudi Arabia will make it a launch pad for exports to Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and North Africa. Similarly, concentrating on Yanbu, Jeddah, Rabigh and Jizan would connect the Yemeni and African markets to Saudi. On the east coast, Dammam and Jubail would serve the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) countries, the north Middle East, the Indian sub-continent and Asia. Using the country’s geography to establish an extensive distribution network would optimise the connections between the region’s market of 250 million people and the global economy.” And while providing services to investors in all sectors of the Saudi economy, SAGIA is focusing on three sectors in particular: energy, transport and knowledge-based industries. The reason, explains Mr. AlDabbagh, is “because they have not realised their full economic potential, they embody an overwhelming competitive advantage, they enable other industries to develop, and they have a multiplier effect on economic expansion.” Opportunities in the energy sector will include downstream industries such as

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SAGIA

Dammam, on Saudi Arabia’s east coast will be pivotal in developing trade with GCC countries, the north Middle East, India and Asia.

Success story

One such knowledge industry giant, networks and communications technology company Cisco Systems, has signed agreements to design the ICT infrastructure for three of Saudi Arabia’s planned Economic cities. Cisco was attracted by the scale of the greenfield project, which provides it with a blank slate on which to pioneer the most advanced innovations in communications infrastructure. In addition, Cisco plans to invest US$265 million in Saudi Arabia as part of the country’s initiative to become ‘a connected Kingdom’. Over the next five years it will increase its workforce in Saudi Arabia from 70 to 600, provide leasing and other financial options to Cisco customers, create a Cisco technology and entrepreneurship innovation centre, sponsor a Saudi technology and entrepreneurship institute, and establish 100 networking training centres to provide joint technical programs with local universities. Although Cisco has operated in Saudi Arabia since 1998, its recent and planned investments in the Kingdom are examples of the large-scale opportunities provided by the Kingdom’s expansive investment initiatives.

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It is clear that “providing the best services available to investors” will be key to SAGIA achieving its goal of turning Saudi Arabia into one of the ten most competitive economies in the world by 2010, says Mr. Al-Dabbagh. And SAGIA will be helped in its mission by “the full support of the Kingdom’s great leadership, not least that of His Majesty King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques.”

“While providing services to investors in all sectors of the Saudi economy, SAGIA is focusing on three sectors in particular: energy, transport and knowledge-based industries” And to realise the 10x10, SAGIA will have to work with “every stakeholder we can engage from the Kingdom’s government and private sectors” to prepare and implement effective initiatives.

Three mechanisms

Mr. Al-Dabbagh explains that to achieve its goals SAGIA is relying on three mechanisms: Firstly, SAGIA monitors and benchmarks the progress Saudi Arabia is making in developing its investment environment and ability to attract investment from around the world, against nearly 300 indicators

Photography: © Giuseppe Masci / Alamy.

petrochemicals, water and electricity, and energy-intensive industries such as minerals. In the transport sector, SAGIA will leverage Saudi Arabia’s geographical position as a hub between East and West by working with relevant authorities to develop the country as an efficient launch pad for goods and services. And in knowledge-based industries, information and communications technology will be particularly significant given studies that show it to be an important factor in increasing productivity.

SAGIA

used by International Finance Commission (IFC), the World Bank, the World Economic Forum (WEF) and the Swiss business school IMD. It set up the National Competitiveness Centre in 2005 specifically to carry out this work. “The National Competitiveness Centre is our main arm toward achieving the 10x10,” he says. Secondly, SAGIA is building its integrated system of Economic Cities, one of which is the size of Hong Kong, and each of which will provide what Mr. Al-Dabbagh describes as “the ultimate in competitive investment and living environments.” As the sole regulator, SAGIA, through its Total Service Centres, will supply everything in the Economic Cities, including commercial and residential land, visas, work permits, and leisure and recreational facilities. “The aim is to provide the best quality of life for both residents and investors,” he says. Thirdly, SAGIA will focus on attracting investment into the key sectors of energy, transport and knowledge-based industries, as described above. SAGIA will also continue to co-operate with other government agencies and private sector organisations to improve Saudi Arabia’s business laws and policies in line with international best practices, in order to ensure the investment climate remains competitive and attractive. “By capitalising on the Kingdom’s value proposition and its effective leadership, we are confident we will achieve our goals and create one of the ten best investment destinations in the world, along with six of the world’s most competitive cities,” says Mr. Al-Dabbagh. “I am, therefore, extremely grateful to our partners from the public and private sectors, to our faithful investors, and to the chambers of commerce and industry who are our main strategic partners, all of whom are doing so much to help us realise our ambitions. All credit goes too to SAGIA’s board members and staff for the hard work and devotion they have shown to all of our existing and potential investors.”

SAGIA’s six principal functions 1. Facilitation. SAGIA provides a comprehensive suite of transactional support services for investors, extending from the inception of the project through to its completion and beyond. 2. Pro-business advocacy. SAGIA helps investors navigate Saudi government legislation and procedures, in keeping with the country’s commitment to remaining competitive in the global economy through healthy business practices, policies, and procedures. 3. Special economic zones and incentives for less-developed regions. SAGIA has co-operated with regional authorities inside Saudi Arabia to create investment opportunities and special incentive packages designed to attract investors to the country’s less well-known economic prospects. 4. Investor-to-opportunity matchmaking. SAGIA helps match up investors with the most relevant opportunities for them. 5. Dedicated sector services. SAGIA offers its comprehensive ‘investment facilitation package’ to all investors seeking opportunities in any of the economy’s open sectors. But it also dedicates sector-specific resources in the key areas of energy, transport and knowledge-based industries (principally information and communications technology, education and healthcare), which it believes offer superior competitive advantage. 6. Special incentives for entrepreneurs. SAGIA believes that cultivating an entrepreneurial spirit is vital to feed the leaves and branches of a healthy economy. It does this through its partnership with the Centennial Fund, a national non-profit foundation dedicated to mentoring and funding Saudi entrepreneurs.

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SAGIA

What services and facilities can SAGIA provide? Asaleeb. To help foreign investors deal with SAGIA, its partner organisations and other parties involved in getting investment projects up and running and then helping to manage them on an ongoing basis, SAGIA launched a sophisticated SAP-powered customer relationship management (CRM) system called Asaleeb in 2006. The system allows the exchange of real-time information between bankers, executives, lawyers, analysts and government agencies, and greatly simplifies interactions between SAGIA and its partners in areas such as visa and licensing applications. Investor Assist. SAGIA provides investors with a full suite of travel and freight services designed to make staying in the Kingdom as enjoyable and stress-free as possible. The Investor Assist services provided to business people and their clients include: -

Airline and hotel bookings Tourism packages Arrival and departure assistance Hajj and Umrah [Muslim rituals] services Travel insurance and visa services Charter ﬂights Car rentals Freight forwarding, cargo services, customs clearance and shipping

Licensing through One-Step Shops (OSS). One-Step Shops were set up to support investors by providing a single point for receiving and processing investment applications. As well as ensuring that investors gain access to the services and incentives they need in order to establish investment projects, the OSS also houses representative offices from relevant government agencies in order to simplify the application process (see below). In addition, the OSS are equipped with Business Centres designed to help investors meet their business needs without leaving the OSS premises. Each Business Centre provides an information desk; legal, financial and management advice; banking services; and Saudi Telecom Company facilities.

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Government agency representation ofﬁces. These offices help investors get licences, simplify the start-up process, and provide investors with appropriate support documentation and investor cards, which, in themselves, offer a host of benefits and perks. The aim is to assist investors in fulfilling the investment application requirements and provide them with over 100 services in the shortest time possible. The OSS houses representative offices from the following agencies: -

Ministry of Commerce and Trade The Directorate General of Passports Ministry of Agriculture General Directorate for Labour Visa Ministry of Labour Department of Zakat and Income Ministry of Justice Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs General Organisation for Social Insurance Chambers of Commerce

But prospective investors don’t need to travel to Saudi Arabia to take advantage of these facilities, explains Mr. Al-Dabbagh: “In addition to representatives throughout the Kingdom, SAGIA has established nine international offices (in Australia, China, the US, the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Japan and Singapore) on four continents. Each international office is headed by a highly skilled country director capable of providing expert advice on all aspects of investing and operating a business in Saudi Arabia.”

Fraport in Saudi Arabia

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Fraport – Airport Operations from Austria to Xi’an.

Fraport’s know-how continues to travel the globe. Under a six-year management contract, 13 employees of Fraport AG have been deployed at the Saudi Arabian gateway airports of Jeddah and Riyadh since mid-June of 2008. Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) conducted an international bidding process to find partners for managing and developing the three largest international airports in the Kingdom – Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam. Fraport bid for Riyadh and Jeddah and won these two projects against stiff international The Company competition.

development, expansion programs, cargo and passenger growth, and financial and economical independency.

An FT Europe 500 corporation, Fraport is solidly managed and trades on the Frankfurt stock exchange. Fraport achieved revenues of more than €2.1 billion and a consolidated Fraport is providing operational and profit of €173 million in 2008 and employed management expertise but it s not an some 23,000 people worldwide. The investor in the Riyadh and Jeddah airports. Saudi projects are a further example of The Saudi Arabian aviation market is the recognition and success of Fraport’s attractive and the economic advantage of integrated A to Z knowledge spectrum the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is significant. based on over 75 years in the aviation With a ratio of almost 80:20 Saudis versus industry. Fraport is managing a growing foreign inhabitants, the market provides range of airports around the globe, either a solid foundation for economic growth as an equity partner in a consortium or as range of planning, design, operational, cluded with DIAL – under which it will be based on the domestic market. Local a service provider under a management commercial and management services for utilizing its extensive airport expertise and international investors areworld. finding contract. include airports around the Fraport AG developed over the These past 80 years to assist Hanover (Germany), Fraport AG is a leading player in the global serves as a neutral partner to the world’s with the operation, management and airport industry. Following its initial public The Fraport management teams at Jeddah tremendous opportunities for investing Burgas and Varna (Bulgaria), Antalya (Turkish major airlines: offering a complete packdevelopment of IGIA. offering (IPO) Fraport has become the secage of aircraft, cargo, passenger company in the activities, and Riyadh are responsible for daily ond largest listed airport in commercial airport cities and other Riviera), Lima (Peru), Cairo (Egypt), Dakar handling services. Outside GerCurrently Air India offers three weekly pasworld, by revenues. operations and for leading a wide range and the air cargoground business. Interest from (Senegal) starting in 2010, Delhi (India) many, the company has ground services opsenger flights and Lufthansa offers daily erations in Austria. Other of Fraport passenger flights from Frankfurt The to NewFrankfurt Airport based on moreabroad than of projects. In particular, the focus isFraport’s on expertise is investors will intensify theareas more the and Xi’an (China). expertise include cargo and ground hanDelhi. From April, Air India plans to provide 80 years of aviation history at Frankfurt am developing both airports -- includingMain, Germany. Frankfurt government provides and opens up new company is also the preferred bidder for the dling, real estate development, airport daily connections. Airport (airport retailing, IT services,sector). intermodalWhether concepts, code = FRA) is locatedprojects about 12 kilometers significant expansion and improvement (also in the aviation soon-to-be-concluded multi-year contract for environmental management, hub manfrom downtown Frankfurt. A renowned activities and enhancing service quality -these investments become BOT projects or operating and developing St. Petersburg’s agement, training, etc. Fraport AG pioneer for decades, FRA serves as Fraport’s Frankfurt Airport Services Worldwide home An base and as a showcase for the com- are selected depends on the as well as on sustainable traffic growth. other models Pulkovo Airport. These are challenging 60547 Frankfurt am Main, Germany pany’s know-how, technology, products, important element during the entireand contract direction Saudi Arabia win-win projects for Fraport and Riyadh and E-mail: marketing@fraport.de Fraporttakes. worldwide services. Internet: www.fraport.com period is an extensive training program for Jeddah – as well as all of the other airport’s Through investments, joint ventures and www.frankfurt-airport.com With outstanding connectivity to all five all levels of management at both airports. At both Riyadh and Jeddah airports, receiving our management know-how. management contracts, Fraport is now continents of the globe, FRA is a interactive 4 continents. served some Contact: modal hub with one of the largest catchpassenger growth is on stabile andFraport above 78.2 million passengers in 2008 and hanment areas in the world and direct access The GACA has chosen a management average compared world situation. Contact in Saudi Arabia dledto 2.1the million metric tons of cargo (airAnsgar Sickert to the German high-speed railway network. freight airmail) atsignificantly. the Group’s airports. Vijender Sharma Saudi Arabia Ltd. heart of traffic contract approach to accomplish its FRA is strategically situated Evenin the foreign is and growing Fraport Fraport Airport Operations India Pvt. Ltd. Germany and the European Union. Airlines remarkable enhancement program for the from high utilization Understanding the culture is the greatest King Khaled Fraport, which bids for airport managePaharpur Business CentreInternational Airport can profit rates and SuiteAdministration 302 ment projects worldwide, was awarded a traffic yields. country’s international airports. The success challenge faced by foreign companies. Building 30-year concession for operating, manag21, Nehru Place of this approach depends on significant Unfortunately, the Arabian Floor, ing Saudi and developing Indiramarket Gandhi InterNewSecond Delhi – 110 019, India Office No. 814 RangeThe of services national Airportknown (IGIA) in India. Together Phone: 11 4120 7355 (AS) efforts in terms of change management. and culture is now widely outside P.O.+91 Box 12115 with state-run Airports Authority of India +91 11 4120 7334 (VS) all-embracing project concept allowsTheGACA the inKingdom. hasAG trained its“Delhi Intercompany prides itself being a lead- Fraport (AAI) Fraport has formed Fax: Riyadh +91 1111473 4120 7558 ing-edge provider of integrated airport national Airport Private Limited (DIAL)”. Mobile: +91 99 1038 2806 to take advantage of Fraport’s worldwide seconded managers like it does its project Phone 00966-(0)1-2200842 services. Besides managing FRA, Fraport Fraport is the nominated “Airport Operator” E-mail: ansgar.sickert@fraport.in expertise so that managers from Riyadh service managers. airports run conby Fax vijender.sharma@fraport.in 00966-(0)1-2200838 AG and its subsidiaries provide the full andBoth an Airport Operatorare Agreement and Jeddah can benefit from Fraport’s proven supervisory committees headed by highand established airport management training ranked representatives of the Kingdom. programs. The contract frees up capacities Their support is important and significant in at the airports so that staff can take part order for the projects to be successful. For in training while the airport operations sustainable success, Fraport has seconded continue and improve. For both airports, managing directors to the projects just to Saudi Arabia for Airport Management and Development Services Company Ltd. GACA has set specific targets such as hub manage enablers and disablers on daily basis.

Major Shareholders

A quintet of credible and attractive investors

or the major shareholders that have invested their time and money in ensuring Knowledge Economic City (KEC) is a success, 2010 will be the year when their visions and dreams become a reality.

Four years after KEC was given royal approval to become the third Economic City in Saudi Arabia, construction work will begin after months of frantic activity behind the scenes. The past few years have been enthralling for the major investors, the Savola Group, King Abdullah Foundation for His Parents, Quad International Real Estate Development Company, Project Management Development Company (PMDC) and Taiba Investment and Real Estate Development Company.

Direct involvement

KEC was declared an economic city under the regulatory jurisdiction of the Saudi Arabia General Investment Authority (SAGIA) which will make it even more attractive to the foreign investors who can add value to the project. Madinah is also in a strong position to attract skilled Muslims from all over the world because it is the second most sacred city in Islam. Investors are also being attracted by KEC’s position as a smart city. The strategic agreements that have already been signed with local and foreign firms, such as Cisco and the global IT trade body the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA), will ensure there is an enviable communications infrastructure in place.

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George Sarraf, partner at global management consultancy firm Booz & Company.

The combined investment for KEC is more than SR30 billion (US$8 billion) and the domestic shareholders are confident SAGIA will approve changes to the KEC master plan.

Positioning fuels interest

KEC’s determination to play a crucial role in positioning Saudi Arabia and its young Saudi entrepreneurs as internationallyrespected leaders in knowledge-based industries such as IT, education, health and hospitality is also fuelling investor interest.

“The past few years have been enthralling for the major investors” George Sarraf, a partner at global management consultancy firm Booz & Company and based in Beirut, believes KEC has attracted such credible shareholders and will tempt more investors because it is differentiating itself from other Economic Cities. “It is focusing on knowledge-based industries which have been given a priority by SAGIA, which in itself has been set up to simplify life for those that want to invest,” says Mr. Sarraf. “This will appeal to private investors as the Kingdom continues to diversify away from its traditional oil-led economy.”

Photography: Cour tesy of Booz & Company.

The five major shareholders in KEC, profiled individually on the following pages, are seeing their dreams and visions starting to take shape

Major Shareholders

A balanced way for ward for Savola Savola is a diversified group with interests spanning food brands, real estate and retail. It is also a regional pioneer in areas such as corporate governance, transparency and ethical behaviour

r. Sami Baroum, the Managing Director of Savola Group, has spoken extensively about how KEC will attract some of the world’s leading experts in knowledge-based industries.

Having taken over the reins at Savola Group in 2007, 15 years after he joined the business, Dr. Sami is confident the KEC project will be a major success for the region. He expects talented individuals to be attracted not only by the significance of Madinah as a heartland of Islam but also as a centre for education, training and personal development. Savola is the largest shareholder in KEC and has therefore headed the consortium of investors that has liaised all the way with SAGIA. Dr. Sami describes KEC as an ambitious, challenging, creative, exciting and essential project which will reach out to people of all cultures and backgrounds around the world.

Photography: Cour tesy of Savola Group.

Retail deal

It is now one of the MENA region’s most varied companies with additional interests in the sugar, packaging and real estate sectors. Savola has operations in 11 countries across the Middle East North Africa and Central Asia (MENACA) region and employs more than 14,000 people. It has, in fact, become a leader in retail development in the region with shopping centres located throughout Saudi Arabia.

Proud to be transparent

The Savola Group’s broader business strategy is to be a regional pioneer in the areas of corporate social

Dr. Sami Baroum, managing director of Savola Group.

responsibility and corporate governance. It was one of the first companies in the region to voluntarily commit to international governance standards around corporate transparency. Dr. Sami also sits on the boards of Afia International, United Sugar Company, AlAzizia Panda United, Al-Marai Company, Kinan International (Savola Real Estate Co.) and the Arabian Cement Company.

“Savola has operations in 11 countries across the Middle East North Africa and Central Asia (MENACA) region and employs more than 14,000 people” Savola’s strong and diversified business continues to deliver robust results. In July the company reported an increase of 38 per cent in operating profits for the first half of 2009 – with gross profits for the period reaching SR1.4 billion. Revenues from the Retail sector – which includes Panda, HyperPanda and Herfy – grew by 47 per cent in comparison to the first half of 2008 to reach SR3.7 billion.

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Major Shareholders

Commendably connected project management support Quad International Real Estate Development Company can call upon both impressive in-house talent and an outstanding array of key partners when planning and managing massive projects

As a leading real estate development management company, Quad provides innovative management and investment support to many unique projects in the retail and residential sectors across the region. It has managed the development of shopping malls and residential compounds in KSA and mega-projects such as free zones in neighbouring countries. A spokesman for Quad told Construction News that approximately 75 percent of Saudi professionals in knowledge-based businesses currently leave the kingdom to go and work in the UK, Canada and the US. He said KEC should go a long way in encouraging intelligent local professionals to not only stay but to be proactive in creating and running the city. Quad worked closely with the Dubai branch of US themed design and architecture business Creative Kingdom – the company behind the iconic Palm and World islands for Dubai developer Nakheel – to devise the masterplan for KEC. The company also joined forces with Toronto-based HOK Architects on the technical masterplan to make sure sensitive issues such as traffic impact were taken into account.

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Prudent alliances

In fact, Quad relies on a number of important alliances to drive through its project management strategy around KEC and its many other developments. For example, when it comes to getting expert advice on transportation the company uses the skills of the UK’s largest engineering consultancy Atkins. This appears to have been a wise choice as Atkins was named Engineering Consultant of the Year in the Middle East at the inaugural Gulf States Building Awards in Dubai. Transportation within KEC will be via a ring road and the King Abdulaziz Road which connects the city to the Grand Mosque of Madinah.

“Quad provides innovative management and investment support to many unique projects in the retail and residential sectors across the region” Quad’s cost consultant is global construction cost management specialist David Langdon, while its legal advisors for the KEC project have been the London-based international law firm Trowers & Hamlins. Partners of this calibre provide an extra dimension for Quad, whose own executive team is composed of experienced local talents who possess a wide variety of skills in the fields of real estate development financing, real estate investment, project management and urban planning.

Photography: Cour tesy of ATKINS.

uad International Real Estate Development Company told business magazine Construction News in January that locating KEC in Madinah is a sensible move because it makes it even more attractive for Muslims working in knowledge-based industries to remain in Saudi Arabia.

Above: Tim Askew (right), Managing Director for Atkins in the Middle East, accepting the award for Engineering Consultant of the year.

Major Shareholders

A reputation for overcoming difficulties Project Management Development Company is part of a group noted for its reliability and is entrusted with the most high profile and sensitive of projects

The King Abdullah Foundation is providing the land for residential, business, retail, education and leisure developments. Above, mid-rise apartments.

Photography: Cour tesy of Knowledge Economic City.

MDC was founded by leading construction firm the Saudi Bin Ladin Group (SBG) in 1991 and over the years, has developed a strong reputation for innovation, a massive potential benefit for KEC.

The corporation is involved in planning and design as well as the marketing and building of residential and commercial projects across the region. Its flagship development is the Abraj Al Bait Shopping Centre in Makkah. This centre covers about 190,000 square metres and has 600 retail outlets, as well as an ice rink. PMDC was launched when SBG diversified away from its civil construction origins into various sectors including real estate, public buildings and airports. Today SBG divisions include operation and maintenance, architecture, public buildings, aviation infrastructure, telecommunications, petrochemicals, mining and power development.

PMDC’s investment in KEC adds considerable credibility to the entire project because construction and investment experts across the Middle East report that PMDC is a business known for its ability to deliver contracts on time, whatever obstacles might appear along the way. Overall, SBG’s standing in the Kingdom has never been higher. It is actively involved in the development of several of Saudi Arabia’s Economic Cities and has gained kudos for modification work it has carried out on Islam’s two most sacred sites – the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah and the Holy Mosque in Makkah.

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Major Shareholders

Real estate development that meets technological needs As the largest property developer in Madinah region, Taiba has a unique understanding of construction issues in the area and is well equipped to deliver buildings that meet the specific needs of KEC

The Taiba Complex for Technology.

Its parent Taiba Holding Company has numerous business interests and owns, manages and invests in hotels, hospitals and resorts as well as real estate. It has developed about 212,500 square metres of residential and real estate projects facing the Holy Mosque. It is also renowned for the diversity of its investments in tourism and agriculture. Since 2006 the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s strategy has been to invest in real estate growth to meet Saudi Arabiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fast-growing and predominantly young population which it appreciates will have and need knowledge-based skills. The Kingdom

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has a very young population with 34 per cent of people under 15 and only 4 per cent aged 60 or above.

Expecting a good return on investment Not surprisingly, Taiba expects its investment in KEC to be a profitable venture. Abdullah Bin Mohamed Al Zaid was appointed as the new chairman in January, having previously held the post of vice chairman. He has been at the forefront of the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s enthusiasm for KEC and involved in strategy meetings from the very beginning as all the major shareholders work hard to develop KEC into a landmark for Muslims worldwide and as an international icon of successful economic development.

Photography: Cour tesy of Knowledge Economic City.

aiba Investment and Real Estate Development holds a significant stake in the Knowledge Economic City and is considered to be the biggest real estate developer in the entire central region of Madinah.

Major Shareholders

The helping hand of a wise king The involvement of the King Abdullah Foundation for His Parents illustrates the importance attached to KEC and underlines the advantages it will bring to a broad cross section of society in Saudi Arabia

he arrival of the King Abdullah Foundation on the KEC board and the transfer of 4.8 million square metres of land which will ultimately become the economic city took place in March 2009. KEC was formally established by Royal Decree in June 2006 when it was launched by King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques.

“One of the Foundation’s core aims is to raise the social, cultural, professional and living standards of all Saudi families on low incomes”

Photography: Getty Images.

The King established the Foundation back in 2005, within a year of taking over the reins of Saudi Arabia. The organisation’s brief is broad, but ultimately it wants to ensure that all sections of Saudi society benefit from the vast amount of development that is taking place across the Kingdom. The land is an ‘in kind’ equity contribution by the King Abdullah Foundation in the “Knowledge Economic City” Company, the investment vehicle which will manage the programme. The Foundation’s objective is to use the returns from this investment to create affordable homes for the poor.

King Ibn Saud, Abdul Aziz Bin Abdul Rahman Al Saud.

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Retail Trends

Shopping hotspot grabs international attention New retail brands are entering the market in The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, drawn by growing consumer demand and the development of well located airconditioned malls in this fast evolving retail scene

With emerging markets widely being regarded as the most likely to weather the current rocky financial climate Saudi Arabia and the rest of the GCC have the added bonus of offering plentiful franchising opportunities not seen so readily in places like North America, allowing international retailers to dip their toe into a rapidly expanding retail market.

Expansion of outlets

“What makes the retail market in the region so appealing is that over recent years there has been overall growth in the KSA, which has allowed for some strong sales figures and that has underpinned the introduction of new brands and the rapid expansion of outlets,” explains Mark Morris-Jones, director of retail at CBRE Middle East.

According to A T Kearney’s Global Retail Development Index, not only is it a good time to move into emerging markets, but Saudi Arabia is in the top five most attractive investment opportunities in 2009. The International Finance Corporation ranked Saudi Arabia 16th among 181 countries in its 2009 Ease of Doing Business report, above the likes of France and Germany. These measures helped inward flows of foreign direct investment to total $24.3bn (£16.9bn) in 2007, a 33 percent rise on the previous year.

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Mark Morris-Jones, director of retail at property consultants CBRE, Middle East.

Photography: Cour tesy of CBRE Midle East.

his year Saudi Arabia has become a major focus for new retail activity. According to international property consultants CBRE, Saudi Arabia has leapt from 31st to 15th in the global hierarchy of the most ‘international’ retail markets, with more new entrants to its retail market than any other country.

Sportswear chain Go Sport had been established in France for 20 years before opening five stores in Saudi Arabia since 2007. Go Sport’s Rashad Ba-tarfi agrees, “Retailing in Saudi has grown very fast due to the rapid development of the international markets, supported by the government allowing local and foreign investors to build up their businesses in all fields. We believe it will grow more and more in the next five years due to the increase of population and increasing investment.”

Photography: Cour tesy of Go Spor t.

An oil-rich economy and stringent banking rules have spared Saudi Arabia from worst of the global recession, but that is not the only factor attracting retailers. Saudi Arabia offers another bonus for retailers, a population of 28m people, 60 percent of whom are shopping-loving under 25 year olds. These facts are compounded by the fact that the Saudi Arabia’s population has grown by six million in the last eight years. The residential construction boom that has followed has satisfied the hordes of people leaving home earlier then ever and has been reflected in the high demand for furniture, interior accessories and electronics. It is no surprise that Ikea, Hyper Panda and Centrepoint are among the most popular retail brands in the Kingdom, according to Hasan Wehbi, senior financial and development analyst at Jones Lang LaSalle and retail consultant on the Knowledge Economic City development.

Go Sport (main picture and above) has opened five stores in Saudi Arabia since 2007.

Separation requires space

There is a Starbucks on every corner and boulevards of which Parisians would approve, and ubiquitous modern shopping malls dominated by western brands such as Marks & Spencer, H&M, Top Shop and Zara, but retailing in Saudi Arabia has its own unique demands, and the harsh climate means shopping in air conditioned malls is preferable to sweltering on city streets.

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Retail Trends

Construction of retail facilities in Saudi Arabia is expected to continue to grow. An estimated gross leasable area of 2.4 million square metres is set to be boosted by an extra 4 million sq m planned over the next five years. Some sources suggest that the $24 billion retail market is expected to grow by nearly a third over the next three years. In contrast Dubai is expected to have 4.25 million square metres of retail space by 2010, up from only 1.17 million square metres in 2006. In the past eight months at least four malls have opened in Dubai, including the 1.12 million square metres Dubai Mall, considered one of the world’s largest indoor shopping centres.

“Some sources suggest that the $24 billion retail market is expected to grow by nearly a third over the next three years” However the glut of retail space in Dubai and Abu Dhabi is revealing its downsides. The UAE’s biggest retail players have seen rents fall for the first time in a decade in Q1 2009. CBRE says the cost of leasing a new store fell by 11 per cent in Dubai and 3.5 per cent in Abu Dhabi as a result of the global economic slowdown.

Inviting market

Go Sport’s Rashad Ba-Tarfi explains why the country is so inviting to retail investors looking to make their mark in the Middle East, “Saudi Arabia is showing a huge growth in all fields and economically it is the strongest country in the area with an open investment sector in different businesses and strong buying power making it very attractive to any investor to start operations in the kingdom before expanding elsewhere.” Mr. Ba-Tarfi says the boom in sports activities in the Kingdom in the last five years presented Go Sport with a unique opportunity to expand, “The huge demand for sport items and the capacity of Saudi Arabia, which can hold more major players in this field, means our group could be a pioneer and has found it is the right time to increase awareness of the importance of sport by opening new sport retail concepts.” Shopping in the Middle East has for many years been synonymous with indulging in luxury goods. This can be in part explained by a combination of the fact that luxury retailers tend to be the most international, with close to 90 percent of luxury retailers having a presence in more than 10 countries and almost 40 percent present in more than 30 countries, and the ease of opening small, low-risk, franchise units in the Middle East.

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Shopping malls feature ubiquitous western brands such as Marks & Spencer and New Look.

CBRE explains that luxury retailers’ focus on exclusivity makes such a strategy positively attractive, in contrast to midmarket retailers who require a more significant presence in a country to justify entering the market. It is often luxury brands that pioneer entry into both developed and emerging markets via ‘flagship’ stores, often paving the way for the subsequent arrival of mass market retailers.

Retail Trends

Luxury openings

According to CBRE’s study, Saudi Arabia also saw more luxury brands enter the market than any other country. Out of the 37 new openings, 12 were in the luxury segment. International retailers and companies to recently enter Saudi Arabia include Debenhams, Harvey Nichols and Saks Fifth Avenue, to name a few. In July luxury stationery brand Montblanc opened its second boutique in partnership with luxury retailer Paris Gallery in the Red Sea Mall, Jeddah to meet the demand for luxury goods by Saudis who would have previously been more likely to make a short trip to the UAE or Bahrain.

“It is often luxury brands that pioneer entry into both developed and emerging markets via ‘flagship’ stores, often paving the way for the subsequent arrival of mass-market retailers”

In contrast to Dubai, Saudi shoppers are likely to demand more from their shopping experience. “Retail malls in Saudi Arabia attract not only shoppers but also visitors seeking leisure and entertainment activities,” continues Mr. Wehbi “We have noticed that district malls perform better across Saudi Arabia compared to small malls, as they dedicate sizable space for family entertainment activities.” These activities include the burgeoning market of ‘edu-tainment’ explains Mr. Wehbi. Knowledge Economic City’s shopping area will have the small theme park that is common among regional malls.

Historical journey

Despite this Mr. Wehbi says a typical shopper in Saudi Arabia would notice that while ladies fashion and food stores dominate malls, high-end restaurants and international ‘grand stores’ such as Harvey Nichols are lacking. An increase in high quality community malls would be welcome for entrants to Saudi’s retail mix says Mr. Wehbi.

“Entertainment facilities are lacking in Saudi so the theme park in the centre of the Knowledge Economic City will be a major driver for attracting visitors from Madinah, school groups and people from further away,” says Mr. Wehbi.

Photography: Cour tesy of Knowledge Economic City.

Comité Colbert, a think-tank representing 70 French luxury firms, said that Montblanc’s move represented the fact that Gulf countries made up between 5 percent and 7 percent of the French luxury sector’s global turnover but that the growth potential was between 10 percent and 30 percent.

The planned Seera Land theme park in Knowledge Economic City aims to take visitors on a historical journey through the various stages of Islamic civilization using the latest multimedia, laser and digital technologies. The 40,000 square metres theme park will also consist of four pavilions illustrating the history of Saudi Arabia’s second holiest city Al-Madinah Al-Munawarah.

New built, but of traditional design, the souk will be an important feature of KEC.

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Retail Trends

However, man cannot eat meat alone and a new wave of family and home orientated retailers have been spreading across the region. Supermarkets in particular have been enjoying buoyant sales figures and international retailers like Carrefour and Gèant are expanding operations throughout the Kingdom. According to Business Monitor International, French retailer Carrefour, along with its partner MAF Group is considering expanding its network of Saudi stores and recently the popular Danube chain launched a massive 18,500 square metre Danube BUILDMART retail complex in Jeddah, which will cater for interior designers, contractors and homeowners, marking Danube’s largest expansion drive in the kingdom. The store originally launched in the UAE and Bahrain before setting its sights on Saudi Arabia.

“Supermarkets in particular have been enjoying buoyant sales figures and international retailers like Carrefour and Gèant are expanding operations throughout the Kingdom” Last year UK discount fashion retailer Matalan also announced it was expanding in the Middle East via the franchise route. The retail element of Knowledge Economic City will comprise 1,200 shops spread over nearly 400,000 square metres and will not veer too far off the well-beaten track laid down by other Middle Eastern developments, says the scheme’s business development department. The development will probably be themed around the old Madinah markets in order to create a unique atmosphere to attract the tourism from the central area, where pilgrims stay. A food court of restaurants and cafes will be central to the design.

Belief in shopping

According to Mohamed Riad Galal, General Manager of the Madinah Hilton, shopping is becoming an increasing lure for visitors to the city. “Religious pilgrims make up the largest and most significant part of Madinah Hilton’s clientele,” he says. “During Hajj, which starts from the Dhul-Qada and lasts for 70 days until the first ten days of Moharam, we host scores of visitors from South Africa, United Kingdom, Singapore, India, Pakistan, Turkey and Middle East & Africa including native Saudis. “Stay lengths during Hajj vary from 8-9 nights at the start and end of the Hajj season to just 2-3 nights during the Eid-al-Fitr peak season. During the rest of the year, we host Umrah pilgrims who stay an average of three to four nights. Religious pilgrimage is the strongest factor driving tourism into Madinah but we are building a reputation as a retail haven as well.” A lack of high quality retail space has kept international brands from entering Saudi Arabia, but the opening of several new, Dubai-style shopping malls, such as Jeddah’s Mall of Arabia, means that is about to change. Retailers and developers are eager to add to the 50 plus malls that dot the country. While the glitz of Dubai and Abu Dhabi begins to fade, Saudi Arabia is offering a secure opportunity to investors because of its unique position of having one of the strongest economies in the Middle East and a healthy demand for new homes, now and for years to come.

International retailers in Saudi Arabia Adidas Originals Bhs Claire’s Coast Debenhams Dorothy Perkins Evans

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Express Foot Locker H&M Justice M.A.C Milano Mothercare

Next Oasis Payless Peacocks Pearle Opticians Principles River Island

Solaris Starbucks Coffee Topman Topshop VaVaVoom Vision Express Warehouse

Architecture

Contemporary design with reference to the past The architectural history of Saudi Arabia is rich and diverse, shaped by outside influences and regional variations, as demonstrated in this overview of building design, from humble outdated mud-houses to the magnificent masterplanning of today

rchitecture in Saudi Arabia has always been subject to a rich variety of styles and foreign influence. In the new metropolis of KEC, this tradition will continue when the city takes shape according to a masterplan conceived by the Canadian office of international architectural group HOK. And while KEC may appear the epitome of contemporary, international architecture with its high-rise towers of glass and concrete, it will also contain many references to more vernacular styles. Historically, it is more useful to think of Saudi architecture as many different traditions rather than a single style with distinct regional differences in the architecture found according to the widely differing geographies. In the Al Hijaz region to the west, most of the towns are placed along the Red Sea shores with the exception of the two Holy Cities of Madinah, Makkah and the mountain city of Taif. Culturally, this area was the most open to the outside world and its influences as a result of its caravan trading routes, busy ports, and the influx of pilgrims to the Holy Cities. The architecture here is distinguished by the use of coral stone, whitewash and wooden â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;roshansâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; which project from the faĂ§ade of the building.

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Saudi Arabia may have lost many examples of its traditional architecture, but KEC plan to incorporate many elements of the old styles.

To the east towards the Gulf Coast, the style has historically been very different. Most buildings are planned around courtyards and are one to two storeys high with timber roofs and thick walls constructed from a mixture of mud and load-bearing stones. A regional feature is wind towers placed to catch the northern summer breeze.

Local rock

In the south where the climate is milder, the major cities have developed along the Tuhama mountain range, with structures built using local rocks to a height of three or four storeys. To cope with the high level of rainfall, buildings traditionally have a layered pattern of protruding stones that work to prevent water penetrating the building structure. This gives architecture of this region a distinctive character. Finally, in the Najd region in the centre to the north of KSA, the architecture was influenced by the hot and dry climate and is characterised by densely clustered

Architecture

Irrevocable change

But architectural traditions were fundamentally and irrevocably changed in the 1970s and 80s, with the huge impact of oil wealth on the development of architecture in the region. Until the middle of the century, even royal palaces were made from mud bricks, but this all altered with the rapid expansion of cities such as Riyadh. In the

“While KEC may appear the epitome of contemporary, international architecture, it will also contain many references to more vernacular styles” process, traditional materials and techniques were largely abandoned in favour of a more Western style of architecture featuring concrete, steel, glass and air-conditioning, and a great deal of Saudi Arabia’s architectural heritage was lost.

homes separated by narrow shaded roads. Houses are built in mud bricks, stone, and timber and were generally arranged around an open central courtyard and rise to one or two storeys.

There are several reasons for this new approach to building according to Dr. King “There was a sense of inferiority. Israelis were trying to show that the Saudis were backward,” he says.

Photography: iStockphoto.

Common features include the provision of privacy for women within the design of the building, such as the enclosed courtyards, separate entrances for men and women, and the avoidance of views into the interior from the street. There are sometimes bridged links to neighbouring family houses so that women can move between the houses without having to enter the street. Decoratively, the main elements were highly crafted wooden doors and casements, and in the coastal and central areas of Arabia, carved plaster. While many of these traditional building types have their roots in the far distant past, they have also been influenced by other cultures, according to Dr. Geoffrey King, a reader in Islamic art and architecture at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London and an expert in the architecture of Saudi Arabia. In his book The Traditional Architecture of Saudi Arabia, Dr. King points out that Saudi Architecture was influenced by many outsiders including the arrival of Persians at Jeddah in the tenth century, and in the nineteenth century by Turkish and Syrian styles.

The Kingdom Tower in Jeddah is planned to rise to 1600 metres.

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Architecture

This led to a deliberate effort to distance the kingdom from its traditional buildings and ways of life, which the privileged business elite and middle classes identified with the past and associated with poverty before the oil-led boom. This break from the past was facilitated by mass migration to fast-growing cities such as Riyadh, which now has a population of over 6 million, while the KSA in total has grown from 3.4 million in 1974 to 23 million today. “At an extraordinary pace, the country trans¬formed as the wealth, rebuilding and urban expansion which had first changed Riyadh, Jeddah and the Eastern Province seeped down to every town, village, and hujra,” explains Dr. King in his book.

Dangerous structures

Around the same time, a decree was issued banning constructions that used mud after the collapse of a number of houses following a prolonged period of wet weather. Not only were mud houses seen as oldfashioned, they were deemed dangerous as well. Another decree made it compulsory to incorporate some elements of traditional architecture, but this did not have the desired effect, according to Dr. King. Instead of preserving the diversity of vernacular architecture in the Kingdom, it resulted in the adoption of a pointed ‘keel’ arch – a stylised version of the arch found in traditional mud houses in some regions. This became a hackneyed motif used throughout the KSA.

Heritage and restoration

Key organisations in this include the Al-Turath Establishment, which was set up to promote Arab and Islamic architectural heritage by Prince Sultan ibn Salman, secretary-general of the Supreme Commission for Tourism. Turath has an agreement of cooperation with Prince Charles’s Foundation for the Built Environment and School of Traditional Arts in London and has been involved in the restoration of some traditionally-built monuments such as the Qasr al-Murabba in Riyadh, now the National Musuem. Turath has also established an award for Urban Heritage and instigated a national programme for the care of old mosques. Another prime mover in this is the Barakat Trust, which promotes the visual cultures of Islamic societies. This is supporting the idea of developing separate regional centres using a combination of buildings

“A decree was issued banning the construction of mud-houses after the collapse of a number of houses following a prolonged period of wet weather” But attitudes have recently begun to change. There is growing discussion among architects and educators about the value of vernacular architecture and attempts to promote them to architecture students – and to society in general – who had little experience of it themselves. “While one cannot advocate an impractical conservation of the fragile architecture of an Arabia which has vanished for¬ever, it should not be ignored. At the very least, it should be recognised that Arabia has had a complex architectural tradition, both unexpected and contrasting with outsiders’ perceptions of the Peninsula as a country only of deserts inhabited mainly by tent-dwelling nomads,” says Dr. King.

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Qasr al-Murabba in Riyadh was completed for King Abdulaziz in 1938. His home, as well as the seat of government, it is now the National Musuem.

Architecture

Madinah mosque. High rise apartments are organized on either side of a central highway, flanked by mid rise development and, furthest from the road, the knowledge campus. Retail and office facilities are positioned in a tranche on either side of a central plaza, with completion expected in nine years.

Masdar City, designed by Foster & Partners, will be a carbon neutral, zero waste development.

that meet contemporary needs but built in vernacular styles that go beyond the keel arch. This might involve decoration from the mosque architectural tradition, for example. The important thing is that it is not a pastiche of the past, but instead creates a new style with references to the past.

Robert Marshall, Director of Planning, HOK Planning Group, Canada and Dubai worked on the KEC masterplan. He says: â&#x20AC;&#x153;The whole development programme is great and makes a lot of economic sense for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. One of the exciting things about KEC is that within a fairly traditional environment there is an ambition to do a lot of positive and sustainable design. The whole urban form of the scheme is linked into the transit system. For a city in Saudi Arabia, this is a really big step forward.â&#x20AC;? KEC will make its mark in the Kingdom both economically and architecturally, creating new jobs and business opportunities in a carefully planned setting that benefits from state of the art infrastructure. Its buildings will rise with a gleaming future in mind.

Photography: AAA Collection; Alamy; Cour tesy of Foster & Par tners.

Already there are isolated examples of this principle being taken up in, for example the work of architect Sami Angawi, who has completed his own house at Jeddah which is a reflection of traditional Hijazi architecture. Angawi has also established The AMAR Centre in Jeddah to revive and sustainably develop traditional architecture.

A new chapter

Another architectural rethink could soon be on the cards with the great surge of interest in sustainable architecture, in particular in neighbouring Abu Dhabi, which recently established an Environment Agency dedicated to sustainability. It is also planning the Masdar City carbonneutral, zero-waste development, designed by Foster +Partners, the practice led by the world-renowned architect Norman Foster. Hopefully, the many proposed new cities such as the KEC can play their part in this and add a new chapter to KSAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rich architectural history. Under the masterplan for KEC, the new city will occupy 4.8sq m of land with 30,000 residential units and 1200 shops, plus hotels, a knowledge park, offices, hospital and a theme park, all just five kilometres from the

A modern mosque in Jeddah, on the outskirts of the metropilis.

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Architecture

Saudi Arabiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s old and new architectural highlights Saudi Arabia has lost much, but not all, of its traditional built heritage. Its outstanding historic buildings include the mosques at the Holy Cities of Madinah and Makkah. Makkah is the largest, accommodating up to one million worshippers and occupying an area of more than 350,000 square metres. It was established in the seventh century and expanded many times over the centuries. The present building mostly dates from an Ottoman built mosque in the 16th century with many later additions including a new wing and prayer area built by King Fahd. There have recently been discussions involving world-famous architects Norman Foster and Zaha Hadid about appointing a new architect to rethink the whole complex so it could accommodate up to 3 million pilgrims. Madinah is the second largest in the world and is the final resting place of the prophet Muhammad (pbuh). The first mosque was built in 622 and since then like Makkah, Madinah has been repeatedly expanded and rebuilt over the centuries. One of its key features is the historic green dome over the centre of the mosque. In its current form, the mosque can hold 500,000 worshippers and, combined with the areas around it, can accommodate up to one million. It is designed as a rectangular form with a flat paved roof, 24 domes and 10 minarets.

Saudia Arabiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most distinctive recent buildings are commercial skyscrapers in Riyadh. The Al Faisaliyah Centre, designed by Foster and Partners and completed in 2000, rises 44 floors and includes a viewing deck and a revolving golden ball that contains a restaurant. Another key high rise building on the skyline is the Kingdom Centre, completed in 2003 at Riyadh. The 300,000 sq m skyscraper contains business and wedding hall accommodations and was designed by US architect Ellerbe Becket & Omrania. This will be dwarfed by the Kingdom Tower, proposed for Jeddah, which, if construction goes ahead, will soar to a height of 1600m. The tower, for the Kingdom Holding Company, is to be designed by Omrania and Associates with Pickard Chilton. It is known as the milehigh tower, although there have been some reports that it is being downscaled, would be the tallest building ever constructed and part of a development including offices, hotels, and luxury homes. Many other top architects are working on major developments in Saudi Arabia. Proposed projects include King Abdulaziz Center for Knowledge and Culture now on site in Dhahran, designed by Norwegian practice SnĂ¸hetta. Foster and Partners are also working on four stations as part of the new Haramain High-speed Railway.

Photography: Cour tesy of Foster & Par tners.

The Al Faisaliyah Tower, by Foster and Partners was completed in 2000 .

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Technical Infrastructure

Wired for the future As Saudi Arabia seeks to diversify away from its traditional dependence on oil, KEC, with its emphasis on utilising technology to the maximum, is seen as one of the most exciting of the numerous ambitious projects in helping achieve this objective for the region

The Knowledge Economic City being built at Madinah will offer businesses and knowledge workers a unique environment in which to work and develop while also providing members of the public with a place where they can relax, shop, and learn about Islamic culture. In this respect, the size and scope of the plans for Madinah are truly impressive, embracing a university cluster, a grand library, a vocational institute, leadership and language institutes, an international school, think tank, foundation cluster, museum, convention centre, retreat centre, marketing powerhouse, multimedia centre, a hospital, a traditional Islamic medicines clinic and an Islamic Civilization Studies Centre. This impressive line up is completed by the Seera Land Theme Park, and the King Abdul Aziz Mosque.

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Broadband Network

The City is designed as a modern real estate development that is leveraged on a hyper-fast broadband network. In so doing, it will create a smart environment with a unique lifestyle, comparable to the best international communities. The concept is that of a “Smart City”, with intelligent and environmentally friendly

Photography: © ArabianEye.

adinah has already pioneered a number of digital economy initiatives, and was also the scene of an e-government pilot scheme. The City is intended to be a landmark for Islamic civilization, which will serve both its visitors and residents and will also act as a catalyst for economic development in knowledge-based industries, and for the Kingdom’s transformation into a knowledge-based society.

All the buildings in KEC will be interconnected by a highly secure Internet Protocol network.

Technical Infrastructure

Islamic Civilization Studies Centre The centre addresses the subject of the Islamic civilization, through the process of gathering, collecting and presenting the disciplines of Islamic civilization that naturally include knowledge, culture, values and principles based on tolerance and goodwill. The Complex, which occupies 200,000 square metres, concentrates on translating the way of life based on Islamic values and ethics through various outputs, including interactive educational programs that illustrate the Islamic civilization and Muslimsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; contributions to it; finding Islamic solutions to deal with current developments such as the Open University, e-Fatwa and Islamic banking products; educational TV and radio programmes; specialized studies directed to other cultures; Think Tank Centres to develop studies and future visions related to developments in Islamic thought and civilization; and the presentation and marketing of handicrafts and Islamic arts.

transportation and building management systems. This will be backed up by the provision of the highest quality building designs, transportation systems, municipal services and cultural amenities. To ensure the City will be supported in the long run, a scalable and secure platform has been developed that takes advantage of the latest technology, including a state of the art fibre optic network that will reach every home and every commercial building, linking the entire City. The City has been designed to reflect the pattern of Madinahâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s classic Islamic architecture, lending it a unique character. The design also takes into consideration the needs of residents and visitors, within a consolidated area that benefits from a modern, 21st century infrastructure, including open spaces for recreation, and with all parts of the city connected to each other by a modern transportation network. KEC residents and knowledge workers will have access to solutions and services that will be enabled through the KEC Smart City ICT infrastructure, providing very high speed connectivity, with wireless access to the network available throughout the City.

Smart City concept

The Smart City concept embraces everything from digital signage and video surveillance to distance learning and building automation and management. KEC will be one of the first truly integrated green field smart cities. It will establish a new benchmark of high-tech infrastructure and high-tech capabilities which will enable businesses and residents of the Knowledge Economic City to improve productivity and competitiveness. The reaction from businesses to the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Smart City vision and strategy has been positive and encouraging, because of the innovative approach and far-reaching vision which will drive a new generation of technology-based solutions that will benefit the community.

Strategic agreement

One of the key partners in the KEC project is the IT firm Cisco. In January 2008, Sheikh Ibrahim M. Alissa Chairman of

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Technical Infrastructure

Madinah Knowledge Economic City (KEC), and John Chambers, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Cisco, signed a strategic agreement for the infrastructure development of the 5 million square metre Smart City project that is designed to attract global information and communications technology (ICT) firms who wish to establish operations and research-and-development facilities in Saudi Arabia. Teaming up through Cisco’s Connected Real Estate initiative will ultimately help the Knowledge Economic City create a world-class infrastructure to assist businesses in reducing capital and operating expenses, by enabling them to have more visibility across their locations and operations.

Cisco recently announced Smart Connected Buildings as its latest emerging technology, a key component in delivering on its vision for Smart Connected Communities, one of 30 key “market adjacencies” the company has identified. Smart Connected Communities addresses the growing need for sustainable energy to meet the demand of increasingly urbanized populations, by providing a blueprint for successful Smart Cities of the future that run on networked information. The solution builds on Cisco’s networked sustainability platform to further utilize the network to increase energy efficiency, create new tools for energy-aware city management, and enable economic opportunity and quality of life gains for citizens.

Converged systems

Cisco’s Connected Real Estate is based on the convergence of all building systems and IT systems. Traditionally, IT and building management systems have not enjoyed any commonality, functioning instead as totally separated, diverged environments. Today, however, developers and building/facility managers have the opportunity to normalize all building systems and IT systems data. Cisco’s Smart Connected Buildings offering will primarily centre around technology offerings that will normalize building control protocols so they can be interpreted, understood and interfaced by IP-based IT systems. The solution will effectively function as middleware that will take native protocols and converge these over the IT protocols for service rendering, management and administration. This will ultimately provide customers

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KEC’s Chairman, Sheikh Ibrahim M. Alissa and CEO, Tahir Mohammed Bawazir (seated, left), signed the agreement for the infrastructure development of the ‘Smart City’ project with Cisco’s CEO, John Chambers and Wim Elfrink, VP Globalisation (seated, right) in January 2008.

with a common set of systems and solutions to cater to both building management systems and IT systems, irrespective of what protocols are being used for the building management systems. Cisco is providing KEC with a business servicebased network design. All buildings in KEC will be interconnected, and can be managed, over a highly

Business Centre In the heart of the City and along the sides of King Abdul Aziz Street, business towers rise to accommodate the companies currently operating in Madinah, as well as knowledge-based industries that will be attracted by the project. The City is equipped with an advanced infrastructure, as well as conference halls, exhibition centres and offices accommodating up to 10,000 employees. The infrastructure and supporting services in the Knowledge Economic City enable companies that want to set themselves up there to do so quickly, and become operational almost immediately, aiding productivity. Facilities include an overall system of smart buildings, remote conference halls, libraries and lab units. They also include supporting services, such as governmental communications, legal, training and recruitment services.

Photography: Cour tesy of Cisco.

“The concept is that of a “Smart City”, with intelligent and environmentally friendly transportation and building management systems”

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Technical Infrastructure

secure Internet Protocol (IP) network, allowing for centralized management and reduced operational costs for the City. The cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s network will facilitate communications across commercial and residential buildings. To further develop the human capital in Saudi Arabia, Cisco is also establishing the Cisco Networking Academy within the Knowledge Economic City. The Academy will train skilled professionals to design and maintain networks and will play a key role in helping to redress the shortfall of local technology talent in the Kingdom. The Cisco Networking Academy programme provides ICT skills to students globally to improve their career and economic opportunities. It operates in high schools, colleges, universities, technical schools, communitybased organizations and government bodies. Its curriculum combines the theory and practice of designing, developing and implementing the networks that underpin businesses and other organizations. In addition, its advanced technology curricula in areas such as security, wireless and Internet Protocol (IP) telephony provide exposure to the latest technology skills in those fields.

Residential Areas In the heart of the City and on its outskirts, are residential areas of varying levels, including hotel apartments, and, well away from the hustle and bustle of the City centre, modern residential villas, providing tranquillity and serenity for their inhabitants. These residential areas are home to a distinguished atmosphere and unique lifestyle, set apart by the serenity and culture derived from the spiritual energy that radiates from Madinah. They also offer lots of space for recreation, with vast expanses of greenery, as well as parks and playgrounds for children and families, plus cafes and restaurants. The total accommodation capacity of the 30,000 housing units of various types will be 150,000 residents and 30,000 visitors at any one time.

Photography: Cour tesy of Knowledge Economic City.

Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a great deal of work still be done before the Knowledge Economic City becomes a reality, but the

blueprint is well established, and work is progressing at a tremendous pace. The vision for KEC is almost beyond comparison. Its realisation over the coming years will be to the benefit of everyone who lives or works there, and all who come to visit.

Main pedestrian spine and cafeteria, KEC phase 1 - villas and apartments development.

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Microsoft Profile

Windows onto a future of learning Technology giant Microsoft employs over 90,000 people worldwide and is a recognised leader in software, services and computer solutions. Its partnership with KEC will play a vital role in training and skills development

As such, KEC Madinah has attracted one of the world’s premier technology vendors: Microsoft. In 2008, KEC Madinah and Microsoft announced a strategic alliance that would see the vendor lead knowledge transfer and training initiatives underpinning the project’s long-term success. Given Microsoft’s presence in Saudi Arabia, it is not surprising that the two entities would work together. Microsoft Saudi Arabia was set up in 1998 and operates three offices in the Kingdom: Jeddah, Riyadh and Dhahran, employing over 150 staff in total. Its remit is broad and inclusive according to Dr. Khaled Al-Dhaher, General Manager for Microsoft Saudi Arabia. “Microsoft in Saudi Arabia is Microsoft,” he assures. “We do a lot of activities working with different commercial organisations and we also work with the government on the transformation of the utilisation of information technology, strategic projects such as e-government and financial projects including nationwide e-payment systems.”

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Broad CSR agenda

The company’s Saudi operation, which is accountable to the Middle East and Africa division of Microsoft Worldwide, also works with the higher learning sector and has a very broad corporate social responsibility agenda, which comprises three general themes: youth, women and those with special needs. Microsoft Saudi Arabia also has a strong R&D pedigree. “This year we’ve launched a collaboration with Imam University in Riyadh with something called the Microsoft Innovation Centre, which is the first such centre in Saudi Arabia,” explains Dr. AlDhaher. “The focus is really to create an opportunity for the business community, the IT community and the academic community to really connect and do a lot of work on introducing, for example, concepts of business into the academic environment and focusing that to help businesses utilise technology better.”

Photography: Cour tesy of Microsoft Corporation.

erhaps it is a universally accepted truth that a knowledge-based economic zone’s success hinges on the building of effective partnerships. Simply put, without high calibre co-operation, the knowledge transfer, research and development, entrepreneurship and financial backing essential to the project will fail to materialise.

Microsoft Profile

knowledge industry, I think we will be able to achieve the objectives that we would like to see at Microsoft.”

Knowledge transfer

It is knowledge transfer – training, in a nutshell – that will be Microsoft’s prime objective. Key to the partnership is Microsoft’s agreement to establish an academy to provide technology training essential to KEC residents and employees. This, according to Dr. Al-Dhaher will be broad ranging. For some, it will be very basic knowledge transfer, covering topics like the Internet, email, security, Office Suite software and the like and, crucially, providing localised resources and content in Arabic. There will also be elements of the Microsoft Idea Academy, which sees the software vendor collaborate with universities and other tertiary education bodies to provide practical technology training and certification programmes for students.

Bill Gates, the Chairman of Microsoft (centre, above) visited Riyadh to discuss the value of building a knowledge economy with leading businessmen. Hosting the meetings were Amr Al Dabbagh, Governor of SAGIA (right) and Microsoft’s General Manager for Saudi Arabia, Dr Khaled Al-Dhaher.

Thus, it is not difficult to see why Microsoft is an attractive partner to KEC Madinah. Make no mistake, though, KEC is a very desirable partner for Microsoft. “The alliance with the KEC in Madinah is very important because of its focus,” Dr. Al-Dhaher explains. “It’s different from other cities. There is good focus in the utilisation of technology and IT in particular, for the creation of the knowledge industry and the knowledge economy.” He adds: “Microsoft is interested in all efforts toward knowledge transfer in the country, all efforts to enhance the utilisation of technology in the country, to increase the knowledge industry in Saudi Arabia and in all parts of the world.” Madinah, he adds, is of particular interest, given its importance as a holy city. He says: “People from around the world look at the holy cities as a source for learning and a source for inspiration, and I believe that if we are able to mix that vision of knowledge in general, the utilisation of technology and the creation of the

“We would like to make available the Idea Academy programme in collaboration with KEC so that when students actually go into the real world they have all that’s needed in terms of certification in order to be practical, to be competitive, to be knowledge workers,” Dr. Al-Dhaher emphasises. “This is really important to Microsoft and also for the KEC, for them to really attract the right people and to be attractive and competitive with the rest of the world. We do not operate in a vacuum.”

“In 2008, KEC Madinah and Microsoft announced a strategic alliance that would see the vendor lead knowledge transfer and training initiatives underpinning the project’s long-term success” The arrangement will also see Microsoft establish a library to facilitate its extensive knowledge transfer activities. There are no firm arrangements currently, but Dr. Al-Dhaher suggests a mix of real world and virtual learning materials becoming available. Crucially, he believes books

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Microsoft Profile

and websites, which will be localised and in Arabic, should be free, or at least priced at a level that will allow access for those on very moderate incomes. “There are millions of people around the world that use resources available from Microsoft,” he says. “We want to make sure that these resources are available to people in Saudi Arabia and we believe that the KEC will be a good focus point where people can get access to this.” Chances are, KEC’s workforce and live-in community will be hungry for learning. Saudi Arabia is very fertile ground for technology uptake given its very young population. While the median age in the UK is roughly 40 years old, with 16.7 percent of the population aged 14 and under, in Saudi Arabia, the median age is 21 years old, with 38 percent of the population aged 14 and under.

“There are a lot of young people, which usually implies faster, quicker take up of the technology, it usually implies better utilisation of technology and acceptance of new ideas and technology,” Dr. Al-Dhaher explains.

“The alliance with the KEC in Madinah is very important because of its focus” - Dr. Khaled Al-Dhaher, General Manager for Microsoft Saudi Arabia Certainly, Internet growth has been astronomical. In 2000, there were just 200,000 Internet users across the Kingdom. By 2006 that number had rocketed to 4.8 million, according to Saudi government statistics. In fact, from 2000-2008, there was an astonishing 1296.2 percent growth in Internet use in Saudi Arabia according to figures compiled by InternetWorldStats.com. Mobile phone usage in Saudi Arabia is also widespread, with fractionally under 100 percent penetration of mobile phones and growth expected. In terms of business, Dr. Al-Dhaher hopes to encourage the growth of venture capital funds to ensure his firm’s vision for KEC Madinah is as effective as possible. “Entrepreneurs are everywhere and Saudi Arabia is no exception,” he says. “Venture capital is also available, probably not as much as I personally would like to see it. I would like to see it become more active working with chambers of commerce and others to encourage entrepreneurs and venture capital funds to reach out to

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Dr Khaled Al-Dhaher believes that books and websites should be free or at least low-priced.

each other. The more opportunities that exist for entrepreneurs to get their projects launched and tested and learn a lot, the better. At the end of the day, you know, you don’t have 100 percent accuracy in entrepreneurship.”

Timing challenges

The other challenge will be the so-called ‘goldilocks factor’ in terms of rolling out programmes and initiatives. Each planned facet needs to be introduced with timing that is just right. Too much too soon would diminish effectiveness and dilute the KEC offering overall, risking the appearance of overengineering and wastefulness. Too little too late would be equally damaging to both parties. Dr. Al-Dhaher concludes: “At the end of the day, we need to make sure that we’re building the right thing and that we’re building it at the right time. We believe that we need to provide value, at the right time, at the right level, so that people will utilise it and then that value will grow as people appreciate it and provide feedback. So we really are looking forward to transforming the project we have laid out.”

Photography: Cour tesy of Elonex.

Quick on the uptake

Strategic Partners

Calling on expert assistance The involvement of heavy-hitting strategic partners of international standing means KEC benefits from unparalleled advice and assistance

HOK is a global provider of planning, design and delivery solutions for the built environment. Since the firm was established in 1955, it has developed into one of the world’s largest, most diverse and respected design practices. It employs more than 2,000 professionals linked across a global network of 24 offices on four continents.

Telekom Malaysia is the leading integrated information and communications group in its home country, with a full range of services and solutions in broadband, data and fixedline communications.

project on the scale of KEC cannot possibly be realised without marshalling expertise from among the brightest and most experienced business minds. Creating an environment fit for the knowledge economy needs of the future calls for thinking and technical skills of the highest level. In order to succeed, a visionary project requires the involvement of experts able to fine-tune, shape and implement the vision. With this in mind, KEC has assembled a formidable group of strategic partners. Each company has been carefully chosen on the basis of its specific skills and outstanding track record. All are leaders in their respective fields with well-merited reputations for incisive thinking and delivering excellence. Their participation in KEC enhances its credibility and ensures the quality of this epic undertaking. The six strategic partners – Cisco, HOK, McKinsey, Telekom Malaysia, NCB Capital and Swicorp – are companies of considerable renown able to deliver the right solutions by drawing from deep pools of resources. They combine international capabilities with local market understanding and an appreciation of KEC’s specific needs and challenges.

Co-Financial Advisors for KEC, NCB Capital and Swicorp, are corporate finance heavyweights with unsurpassed knowledge of Middle East capital markets. Telekom Malaysia is the number one provider of information communications technologies in Malaysia and is evolving its business into becoming a Next Generation Network service provider.

“In order to succeed, a visionary project requires the involvement of experts able to fine-tune, shape and implement a vision”

Management consultancy McKinsey and Company is highly regarded for its global reach and admired for the depth of its insight into fundamental business issues. It prides itself on identifying and solving the most critical and challenging problems.

Last but not least, Cisco Systems is the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet. Its hardware, software and service offerings are used to create internet solutions that allow individuals, companies and countries to increase productivity, improve customer satisfaction and strengthen competitive advantage.

McKinsey, which was formed in 1926, counts three of the world’s five largest companies among its numerous clients. It invests significant resources in building knowledge. Its mission is to bring this knowledge to its clients and to work closely with them in order to build their capabilities.

Collectively, these six impressive strategic partners bring a colossal amount of expertise to bear on the creation of KEC, as will be explained in greater detail on the following pages.

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Strategic Partners

Pushing the boundaries of the human network Cisco is synonymous with the Internet and its technology ensures that digital data is transferred efficiently. However it is not a company to sit back and rest on its achievements

“

he new economy is the Internet Economy,” said John T. Chambers, Chairman and CEO of Cisco Systems. “The Internet Economy is reshaping the fortunes of business, countries and people, levelling the playing field for everyone, and driving the most significant economic shift since the Industrial Revolution.” Mr. Chambers spoke these prescient words as long ago as 1998 on a visit to US capital city Washington D.C. where he discussed the impact of the internet on the global economy at a series of events and meetings with prominent politicians and business leaders. How right he has been proved. A decade later, in January 2008, Mr. Chambers met with KEC Chairman Sheikh Ibrahim M. Alissa in Riyadh to announce that a strategic agreement had been finalised for the network design of the five million square metre “smart city” project. The project is designed to attract global information and communications technology firms who wish to establish operations and research and development facilities in Saudi Arabia. As part of its Connected Real Estate initiative, Cisco will provide the network design architecture for the city, where an estimated 20,000 jobs are expected to be created. All buildings in KEC will be interconnected and can be managed over a highly secure Internet Protocol (IP) network, allowing for centralised management and reduced operational costs for the city. The city’s network will facilitate data, voice, video and mobile communications

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across commercial and residential buildings – proof of Mr. Chambers’ pronouncement in the late 1990s.

A byword for the Internet

Few other companies are as closely associated with the internet as Cisco. By its own estimates, as much as three-quarters of the world’s digital data now passes through Cisco equipment – a simply staggering amount of information traffic.

“Cisco is committed to innovation and Research and Development is a core component of its corporate culture” Cisco was founded in 1984 by computer scientists from Stanford University Len Bosack and Sandy Lerner who were experimenting with connecting detached networks. The company was named after San Francisco, gateway to the Pacific Rim and its timing was impeccable. Its birth came in the year before the first .com and .edu domain names were assigned. In 1986, Cisco forever changed the networking communications industry and the internet by launching its first routing innovation, the AGS multi-protocol router

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Thereafter, the company grew steadily and went public in 1990 with a market capitalisation of US$224 million. The following years saw a wave of further innovations, allied to the beginnings of an aggressive expansion strategy. In 1993, Cisco made the first of many acquisitions, a company called Crescendo Communications, a specialist in Copper Distributed Data Interface (CDDI) technology.

On the dotcom wave

By the year 2000, Cisco was a vastly larger entity, with over 34,000 employees. In March that year, in the era of the dotcom boom, Cisco became the world’s most valuable company, in terms of market value when a share price high of $82 equated to a market capitalization of US$569 billion.

“Its corporate vision is to change the way people work, live, play and learn - which chimes very harmoniously with the vision underpinning the development of KEC” Speaking early in 2001 at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Mr. Chambers reminded world business and government leaders that just as businesses have benefited from great internet-based productivity gains, societies also stood to benefit. Mr. Chambers made the telling point that the Internet is as fundamental as any utility, like water or electricity, and that access to the internet is key to increased productivity.

the vision underpinning the development of KEC. A key global initiative is the Cisco Networking Academy that delivers information and communication technology skills to help improve career and educational opportunities for individuals in communities around the world. Over the past 10 years, Cisco Networking Academy has developed an ecosystem of public-private partnerships to extend the programme benefits to more that 500,000 students a year in more than 165 countries. Moreover, it is not a business to rest on its laurels. Cisco is committed to innovation and Research and Development is a core component of its corporate culture. Cisco invests nearly $5.2 billion a year on R&D, making it one of the top R&D spenders in the world. It is this constant pursuit of better technologies and improved solutions that makes Cisco such a successful business. Yet as its famous Welcome to the Human Network slogan shows, it hasn’t forgotten that what really count are the people who are interconnected by technology rather than just the technology itself.

Photography: Cour tesy of Cisco.

“The internet exceeds the combined productivity of telephony, transportation and electricity,” Mr. Chambers said while in Davos. The emergence of high-speed broadband Internet services, Mr. Chambers continued, was accelerating productivity faster than ever before. In turn, the internet was improving the standard of living for people worldwide and addressing the digital and the education divides. “The infrastructure of the future is changing,” he added. Today, Cisco is a company with over 66,000 employees that is active in pretty much every aspect of the web’s infrastructure. It makes networking hardware switches, gateways and other digital backbone hardware, sells network management software and supplies routers that run domestic wireless networks.

Changing lives

Its corporate vision is to change the way people work, live, play and learn – which chimes very harmoniously with

John T. Chambers, Chairman and CEO of Cisco Systems.

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Enriching lives through innovative design Multinational architecture and development planning firm HOK invests heavily in technology and systems that improve inter-office collaboration for the benefit of its clients One of HOK’s earlier projects was the National Air & Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

It employs more than 2,000 professionals linked across a global network of 24 offices on four continents. Industry surveys consistently rank HOK among the leading firms in numerous building types, specialities and regions, and it has earned many awards and honours for its projects, people and practice. HOK has been actively involved in master planning KEC, coming on board after the creation of the initial vision plan with a brief to reinvent and visualise the concept. The firm brought greater detail to the original vision, devising design guidelines, creating a conceptual landscape architecture overlay and preparing proposals for submission to SAGIA. “We spent a lot of time figuring out how it would work as a city – how would the transportation work, how would the infrastructure be brought in, what interchanges were required to meet traffic plans,” says Robert Marshall, Director of Planning, HOK Planning Group, Canada and Dubai.

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“The whole economic cities programme is very intelligent and forward looking. It’s a creative response to demographic reality in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. There are a lot of young people looking for housing and jobs. Madinah is known as a religious city but people have economic needs too.”

“The firm scales its services for projects of all sizes, right the way from helping a company rebrand its headquarters lobby to planning a new town” Mr. Marshall has over 25 years experience in the design consulting business. Most of his current work is international in scope, focusing on major planning, urban design and sustainable design projects in the Arabian Gulf and other locations in Europe, India, the Middle East and North Africa. A frequent international speaker, he is recognized as a leading specialist in the large-scale planning of sustainable urban environments.

Photography: Corbis.

OK is a global provider of planning, design and delivery solutions for the built environment. Since it was founded in St. Louis, Missouri in 1955, HOK has grown to become one of the world’s largest, most diverse and respected design practices.

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In 2008, HOK was ranked the number one Architectural/Engineering Firm by both Building Design + Construction and Engineering News-Record. Its impact and innovation have been felt in many places. Among its achievements is the design of the first LEED certified airport terminal – Terminal A at Boston Logan International Airport. LEED, short for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is a sustainable building rating system developed by the U.S. Green Building Council. This was by no means a flash in the pan. HOK’s green credentials have deep roots. It has enjoyed six consecutive years of recognition on the American Institute of Architects Top 10 Green Projects List. Moreover, in 2008 HOK established an exclusive alliance with the Biomimicry Guild, an innovation company that studies nature’s best ideas and applies them to design and engineering challenges in a sustainable way. HOK can also lay claim to designing the world’s most visited museum – the National Air & Space Museum in Washington, D.C. That project dates back to the 1970’s. A few years later, in the early 1980’s HOK designed King Khaled International Airport and the $3.5 billion King Saud University, both in Riyadh. At the time, the latter was the single largest project in the world. Projects on this scale are a big step up from the firm’s first buildings – schools in the St. Louis suburbs. Today, of course, the firm has evolved further still. A ‘whole world’ design ability and holistic approach springs from a broad array of interconnected disciplines within the firm. HOK approaches challenges from different perspectives – from strategic planning to architectural, engineering and interior design to construction services – enhancing its ability to innovate. Offering these services in-house also contributes to delivering better projects by streamlining the team’s communication and quality control. HOK’s services extend through the entire life cycle: from strategic planning through design and ongoing facility management. The firm scales its services for projects of all sizes, right the way from helping a company rebrand its headquarters lobby to planning a new town. The firm aims to integrate all of these services as a unified creative force that is in synch with what the world needs from design.

Across its many offices, HOK is united by a shared mission passed down by founding partner Gyo Obata: To use design to help clients achieve their goals and to enrich lives. Each office is also linked by sophisticated technology. HOK has implemented a single global technology infrastructure across all of its offices with a single global support team. Technological solutions of this kind have become increasingly critical as projects are getting more global and are often worked on by teams from multiple offices.

“HOK has implemented a single global technology infrastructure across all of its offices with a single global support team” Having a centralised technology plan not only enables the technology deployment to be more effective and efficient, it also allows for some level of uniformity and standardisation across all the offices. In the case of Building Information Modelling (BIM) for instance, standardised sophisticated software allows for ‘clash detection’, foreseeing construction problems before they happen so that adjustments in materials and schedules may be made accordingly. A key aspect of BIM is that it helps achieve speedier visualisation of solutions, which appeals to designers and clients alike. Technological innovation of this kind should come as no surprise at a firm which in 1982 created one of the world’s first computer aided design systems. Unquestionably, HOK’s track record speaks for itself. It has worked for more than a quarter of the Fortune 500 companies, 75 colleges and universities, a plethora of sports brands and designed the maximum security jail that replaced the infamous Alcatraz. No wonder HOK couldn’t escape KEC’s notice.

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Clusters of brilliance Consultancy firm McKinsey and Company has a well-merited global reputation for insightful problem solving, a skill set that was put to good use in advising KEC on knowledge cluster development

new project.

James O McKinsey, founder of McKinsey & Company, pictured in 1926.

cKinsey and Company was hired in a consultancy capacity to advise KEC on the knowledge clusters to be developed within it, and which will form a vital part of the

With more than 80 locations around the world, McKinsey is a global firm with no central office. It is widely recognised as a leader and one of the most prestigious firms in the management consulting industry. Ranked number one for six consecutive years in the Vault.com list of top consulting firms, it has been the first or second most desired employer for recent MBA graduates since at least 1996. McKinsey has more than 9,000 consultants in 71 offices across 51 countries. Clients include three of the world’s five largest companies, two-thirds of the Fortune 1000, governments and other non-profit institutions. McKinsey’s clients represent more than 70% of Fortune magazine’s most-admired list, more than 90 of the 100 leading global corporations, and governments in more than 35 countries. Forbes estimated the firm’s 2007 revenues at US $5.33 billion.

A vital role

McKinsey aspires to play a vital role in the Middle East region, advising institutions in sectors such as financial services, telecommunications, energy, government, health care, business technology, and transportation.

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It helps develop strategy, build new businesses, enhance organisational structures, and improve operational performance. Its Riyadh office is currently being established. At any point in time, there are approximately 50 consultants working with clients in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. McKinsey sees in the region huge business potential for the future, but not

“Each one of McKinsey’s staff is responsible for earning and keeping clients’ trust through their individual behaviour and the quality of the work” only in terms of oil, petrochemicals and energy-intensive industries. The financial sector has grown at an average rate of 25% per year since 2002. The telecommunications industry has also been growing very rapidly across the region, too. Between 2002 and 2007, the number of mobile phone subscribers

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grew from 62 million to 476 million. Today, MENASA region countries (Middle East, North Africa, South Asia) account for 15% of mobile phone users worldwide. By 2017, the number of mobile phone users in the region is expected to increase to more than one billion. This would represent 26% of overall growth in the number of mobile phone users worldwide. The region’s tourism industry has grown from 62 million international visitors in 2002 to 104 million in 2007, accounting for 6% of the global tourism market. By 2017, the number of visitors to the region is expected to have grown to 167 million.

Extraordinary opportunities

McKinsey helps people and companies explore opportunities, manage and sustain growth, and maximise revenue. It does this using a number of core principles. It follows the top management approach. This means it finds and solves the most critical and challenging problems. It takes an overall, independent, and factbased view of a client’s performance. It relies on facts because they provide clarity and align people and because facts are the global management language. It works with them to provide credible recommendations, and it works directly with leaders who can partner with McKinsey to develop and accept recommendations and have the ability to implement them. It uses its global network to deliver the best of the firm to all clients and no one at McKinsey ‘owns’ a client relationship. It relies on multiple people, not a single consultant or a single office, to provide leadership and bring its high standard of client service into each situation. It draws on a global network of internal or external expertise to bring together the right minds for the right solutions.

Management innovation

McKinsey also brings innovations in management practice to clients. Its clients need new insight, so McKinsey asks its people to bring their best thinking to the clients. It invests significant resources in building knowledge. McKinsey sees it as its mission to bring this knowledge to clients and it publishes it for the benefit

of business and government leaders worldwide – and to force McKinsey to think about what is next. The company also builds client capabilities to sustain improvement and this is vital. It works with clients as it does with its colleagues, building capabilities and leadership skills at every level and every opportunity. It does this to help build internal support, get to real issues, reach practical recommendations and bring out the capabilities of clients to fully participate in the process and lead the work after McKinsey has left.

“McKinsey’s clients represent more than 70% of Fortune magazine’s most-admired list, more than 90 of the 100 leading global corporations, and governments in more than 35 countries” One central aim is to build enduring relationships based on trust, so it strives to earn clients’ trust and does this through a consistently superior service, professional conduct, and complete commitment. Each one of McKinsey’s staff is responsible for earning and keeping clients’ trust through their individual behaviour and the quality of the work. McKinsey is known throughout the world for its intellectual rigour and ability to devise solutions that meet client objectives and exceed expectations. Many business and political leaders have learnt the ropes at McKinsey, whose reputation for attracting the brightest and best is well founded. Today’s consultants are as impressive as ever and have played a valuable part in developing KEC’s knowledge clusters strategy.

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Next generation networking knowledge Southeast Asian telecoms giant Telekom Malaysia is bringing integrated information and communications expertise to bear for the benefit of KEC Malaysian Prime Minister Abdul Razak thinks it fitting that Madinah was chosen to exemplify Islam’s technological future.

TM is one of the largest listed companies on Bursa Malaysia with operating revenues of more than RM16 billion and total assets of more than RM41.8 billion. A government-linked company, it reports government shareholdings of more than 36%. It has a global presence in 12 countries and employs in the region of 30,000 people group-wide, with recent major acquisitions in Indonesia, Pakistan and Singapore in the effort to stamp its presence internationally.

An integrated capability

TM is Malaysia’s leading integrated information and communications group, offering a comprehensive range of communication services and solutions in broadband, data and fixed-line. As a market leader in the broadband and fixed-line businesses, the company is driven to deliver value to its stakeholders in a highly competitive environment. The Group places emphasis on continuing customer service quality enhancements and innovations.

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With its extensive global connectivity, the group is evolving into a Next Generation Network service provider enabling it to enhance its efficiency and productivity while providing enriched products and services.

“TM is Malaysia’s leading integrated information and communications group, offering a comprehensive range of communication services and solutions in broadband, data and fixed-line” The company’s new 19,000 square metre research and development base at TM Innovation Centre houses 16 labs as well as extensive office and meeting space. The R&D team plays a vital role in providing customised solutions through leading edge designs, fabrication and state-of-the-art technologies.

Core businesses

Core business areas include voice services, data services, enterprise resource planning, internet services,

Photography: Rex Features.

elekom Malaysia (TM) is the largest telecommunication company in Malaysia and also Southeast Asia’s second-largest telecoms firm. It officially changed its global brand from Telekom Malaysia to TM in April 2005.

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mobile services, broadcast, specialised network service and lastly, satellite, maritime and radio services. Instead of running all of the core business under one brand name, TM has a few subsidiaries operating under them and these subsidiaries are known as VADS (Managed Network Service), Celcom (mobile telecommunication provider), TM Net (narrowband and broadband internet service provider) and last but not least, Multimedia University (education, research and development). Besides having a wide variety of local core businesses, there is also active involvement in numerous overseas investments, particularly in the area of telecommunications. In this respect, Telecom Malaysia was honoured to be official advisor on the Smart Infrastructure within Knowledge Economic City. The Smart Infrastructure and complementary business support services aim to create a more competitive environment and will be able accommodate up to 10,000 employees. The intention is to provide incubators for young Saudi IT and small business entrepreneurs who are looking for a competitive environment to grow their businesses. Aside from this prestigious project, TM is also investing in numerous other countries across different continents, including Sri Lanka, the Republic of Guinea, the Republic of Malawi, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia and last but not least, Indonesia.

Proud to be responsible

On the Corporate Social Responsibility front, TM has a long and proud record. It has always been a major corporate contributor to responsible activities, in the belief that these practices are a fundamental tenet of good corporate governance. In this respect, the group promotes three major platforms: education, sports development and community/nation-building. Under education, TM has spent some RM800 million to develop Multimedia University into one of the top universities in Malaysia with more than 20,000 students. It has also provided scholarships to more than 10,000 graduates pursuing academic programmes locally and overseas. These programmes have been a great success. So far as community/nation-building platform is concerned, the group contributes towards causes that

bring value to the community and nation at large. In addition to that, Telekom Malaysia and its subsidiary, Celcom, donated a significant sum in order to assist the Tsunami devastated areas. TM was awarded the prestigious STAR-BIZ ICRM Corporate Responsibility Award under the workplace category for 2008. On the sports front, TM is actively contributing towards the promotion of football at all levels. Encouraging a healthy and competitive environment in this way is clearly a good thing for young people. The company is also actively involved in some of Malaysia’s social events such as sponsorship for Le Tour De Langkawi 2005. Le Tour De Langkawi is one of the world’s most prestigious cycling races and many cyclists from all around the world have been participating in the event since its early days.

“It shows how two Muslim countries can co-operate and collaborate in the interest of the ummah (Muslim community) and can indeed transform the Muslim world” - Malaysian Prime Minister, Mohammed Najib bin Tun Abdul Razak Commenting on the co-operation between TM and the Madinah Knowledge Economic City, the Malaysian Prime Minister, Mohammed Najib bin Tun Abdul Razak, said: “It shows how two Muslim countries can co-operate and collaborate in the interest of the ummah (Muslim community) and can indeed transform the Muslim world.” He continued: “It is fitting that Madinah, the holy city which saw the beginning of the Islamic acquisition of knowledge, was chosen to transform Muslims and bring about a true revival. It is this newly gained Islamic technological pride which brings us to the future.” A smart future awaits.

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Hungry for more NCB Capital brings impressive investment banking expertise and in-depth market knowledge to its role as co-financial advisor on the KEC listing

NCB Capital was appointed along with SWICORP as co-financial advisor for the initial public offering (IPO) of KEC. Its advisory role will cover the entire process of the listing, from liaising with the CMA and the Saudi stock exchange, Tadawul, to preparing the offering prospectus and listing documents, and the actual underwriting of the offer. “Our track record in this type of role is extensive and we have established a reputation for lead managing, lead underwriting and providing financial advisory services to prominent transactions in the Kingdom,” says Hasan Al Jabri, Managing Director, Investment Banking at NCB Capital. “Most notably, we were the Financial Advisor on the IPOs of SADAFCO, Saudi International Petrochemicals Company (SIPCHEM), and United International Transportation Company (Budget Rent a Car), amongst others. “Through our parent, NCB, we have participated as a receiving bank in almost every offering in the market, helping raise over SAR 30 billion, highlighting our prominent and unmatched distribution capabilities.”

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NCB Capital was launched in April 2007 following restructuring in the Kingdom’s banking industry. Under CMA regulations, all banks in the Kingdom were required to spin off their securities and investment division into independent subsidiary companies. NCB was already an investment trailblazer in the Kingdom, as it was the first bank to introduce mutual funds to the local market.

“NCB Capital has built a solid reputation for itself and developed its profile as an important player in investment banking throughout the Middle East region” Pioneering work in developing a range of highly successful Sharia-compliant investment products and state of the art stock trading technology created invaluable assets which, along with the trust of generations of Saudi citizens, ensured that the spin-off was built on sturdy foundations. Its parent bank handed on a priceless heritage.

Photography: Cour tesy of NCB Capital.

ndependent investment company NCB Capital is the first subsidiary of a Saudi bank (the National Commercial Bank) to be licensed by the Capital Market Authority (CMA) to handle investment banking and asset management in the Kingdom. It is a provider of premier solutions in the field of integrated investment services.

Hasan Al Jabri, Managing Director of Investment Banking at NCB Capital.

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Since its formation, NCB Capital has built a solid reputation for itself and developed its profile as an important player in investment banking throughout the Middle East region with institutional, corporate and individual clients. With around $13 billion of assets under management and one million clients, it is the Kingdom’s largest manager of funds for high net worth individuals and its strong links to parent bank NCB, which has over 260 branches, brings it peerless expertise in the local markets. In addition to its pre-eminent position in Saudi Arabia, the GCC’s largest market, the firm is building a strong regional presence selectively, working with affiliate HC Securities in Egypt, its subsidiary Eastgate Capital Group in Dubai, and with NCB’s subsidiary Turkiye Finans in Turkey. In October 2008, NCB Capital acquired The Capital Partnership, a London based specialist asset manager.

“We combine our strong local knowledge and service capability to provide the support that the KEC IPO deserves” - Hasan Al Jabri

for its exceptional distribution capabilities and it is a leading underwriter of equity in Saudi Arabia, having completed initial public offerings (IPOs) in most industrial sectors, including oil, gas, real estate and construction.

NCB Capital is the market leader in the local Saudi mutual funds market with a 33% market share. Additionally, it is the third largest broker in terms of value traded, with a market share of 12.5%, and it is a pioneer in investment banking in the region.

“We will take advantage of our expertise for lead managing, lead underwriting and providing financial advisory services on prominent transactions in the Kingdom to ensure that KEC’s IPO is a success.”

Undoubtedly, NCB Capital is a highly accomplished strategic partner to have on board and for its part, NCB Capital is delighted to be involved because KEC is of such immense importance to Saudi Arabia.

NCB Capital’s astute team of researchers and analysts provides the business and its clients with valuable insight into equity markets and the broader economy. The Saudi Arabia Factbook published by the NCB Capital Research Department in June 2009 is a prime example of this enviable insight capability, setting out in commendable detail the prospects for the Kingdom’s economy, providing perceptive analysis of the major commercial sectors and concise profiles of leading companies.

“The development of the Knowledge Economic Cities is one of the most important elements in the government’s plans to diversify the Kingdom’s economy away from a reliance on petro-chemicals at a time when the population is booming,” says Mr. Al Jabri. “This investment in infrastructure, education and technology will boost job creation and will stimulate the development of knowledge intensive sectors.” Clearly, NCB Capital has a number of specific skills that it is bringing to bear as a strategic partner. According to Mr. Al Jabri: “We combine our strong local knowledge and service capability to provide the support that the KEC IPO deserves. NCB Capital is widely recognised as one of the leaders in Saudi in raising capital, as well as

In a nutshell, NCB Capital’s aims are to offer more opportunities, more customised services, more advanced technology and these corporate goals are alluded to in its marketing strapline, We Look for More. That’s why KEC is more than delighted to have NCB Capital on its side.

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A regional powerhouse in financial transactions With more than two decades of corporate finance and investment activity in the region under its belt, Swicorp has an abundance of the necessary experience and skills to help KEC secure funding from the market Kamel Lazaar, Swicorp’s Chairman and CEO.

Founded in 1987 and licensed by the Capital Market Authority of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the Dubai Financial Service Authority of the United Arab Emirates, Swicorp has an extensive track record of pioneering advisory transactions across the MENA region over the last 20 years. Since initiating its private equity activities in 2004, Swicorp has also developed into one of the leading players in the private equity sector, raising nearly US$1.4 billion in private equity funds from Middle East investors. From its headquarters in Riyadh and regional offices in Jeddah, Geneva, Tunis, Dubai and Algiers, Swicorp provides a wide range of corporations and investors with independent advice and assistance on key strategic and financial issues. Focussed on long-term client relationships and dedicated to the pursuit of client interests, Swicorp offers a unique combination of in-depth local expertise, pan-regional

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capabilities and professional excellence, provided by an experienced multinational team of over 100 professionals, who between them speak 22 languages.

Sharp focus

Swicorp’s activities are focused almost exclusively on transactions or clients connected to the Middle East and North Africa. Importantly, this enables

“Swicorp provides a wide range of corporations and investors with independent advice and assistance on key strategic and financial issues” Swicorp to have an in-depth knowledge of the business environment, regulatory framework and cultural particularities of the national markets in which it is active. In conjunction with its pan-regional network and international reach, Swicorp is powerfully placed to serve clients and investors seeking opportunities across the MENA region.

Photography: Cour tesy of Swicorp.

wicorp is a leading independent corporate finance advisory, private equity and principal investment firm, with a specific regional focus on the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. It is the co-financial advisor on the Knowledge Economic City (KEC) project.

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Swicorp’s distinctive culture has enabled the company to attract and retain a large and growing team of experienced professionals dedicated to meeting the exacting requirements of its client base. Managing directors have an average of more than 20 years of relevant advisory and investment experience, gained both internationally and within the MENA region, which provides the firm with an unrivalled level of expertise in its core markets.

“Swicorp has invested its international know-how, attained across seven markets, as well as its 20-year experience of the Saudi investment sector into preparing the IPO” Senior Swicorp executives comprise a balanced blend of professionals from relevant advisory disciplines, industry backgrounds, and geographic locations. The diverse mix of cultural and professional backgrounds provides a rich source for cross-fertilisation of ideas and skilful and efficient implementation.

Delivering what’s needed

Swicorp’s over-riding principle is the commitment to working with clients to meet their strategic and financial objectives and achieving bottom-line results. The firm is structured to allow senior professionals to devote the vast majority of their professional time to client activities. It works closely with its clients to maximize value creation and its remuneration is structured to be fully aligned with client interests. Mutual trust and respect enable Swicorp’s team to form valuable and lasting relationships with the client base. Swicorp is an independent firm, and free from the potential conflicts of the competing interests that may arise in larger financial institutions. It believes that the highest quality and most objective corporate finance advice is most likely to be provided when completely separated from a desire to sell a broader array of products. Therefore, it does not trade securities, make loans or produce investment research. On July 1, 1987, Swicorp opened for business in Rue du Rhone Geneva to offer financial advisory services to international and regional corporations with interests in the Middle East and North Africa.

Unshakeable confidence

“Twenty years ago the MENA region may not have been the obvious geographic area for a financial advisory firm to choose as the undiluted focus for its activities but Swicorp’s founders held an unshakeable confidence in the MENA region’s long-term potential,” says Swicorp CEO Kamel Lazaar. “Over the past 20 years that confidence has been fully justified, with many positive changes seen in the region and its financial services sector. Governments have actively promoted the development of important, strong and sustainable capital markets across the region, and dynamic new financial centres have emerged in places such as Bahrain, Dubai, Qatar, and Riyadh to name just a few.” “Following the receipt of its license from the Capital Market Authority of Saudi Arabia in 2006CE, Swicorp transferred its headquarters to Riyadh as a further sign of its commitment to the region, establishing a joint stock company which is now the parent of the Swicorp group.” Swicorp Managing Director and Head of Advisory, Mehdi Sethom, adds: “Swicorp is deeply honoured to have provided financial advice for the project since its inception and is proud to be associated as financial advisor for Knowledge Economic City. It is a privilege for Swicorp to participate in the development of the Holy City and Economic Cities and to bring such a business opportunity to investors.” “We have invested our international know-how, which has been attained across seven markets, as well as our twenty years of experience of the Saudi investment sector in preparing this IPO,” he adds.

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The Knowledge Economy

A journey guided by innovation and collaboration The phrase ‘knowledge economy’ is now commonplace but it remains widely misunderstood, as shown by some of the latest research and academic thinking on the changing nature of economies around the world

t was the late esteemed management guru Peter Drucker who first popularised the phrase ‘knowledge economy’ when he used it as a chapter heading in his 1960’s book The Age of Discontinuity. In that prescient publication, Mr. Drucker strove to provide guidelines for a changing society in which emerging technologies were transforming the economic landscape, sowing the seeds for globalisation and creating new industries. Four decades on, in the age of the worldwide web and nanotechnology, the knowledge economy is an everyday reality. Countless books have been written on the subject, endless research projects conducted, innumerable seminars and conferences devoted to every conceivable aspect of the topic. What was once termed the information age has evolved into something broader and deeper with relevance for every organisation and government on the planet. Today, information technology and knowledge transfer are pillars on which prosperity is built. While traditional production and manufacturing industries will continue to be important, balanced economies will also feature a significant element of knowledge-based businesses offering insight, solutions and often a strong focus on innovative new product development. It is with these goals in mind that KEC is being built.

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“Following the transition from farming to industrial production, we are now completing the transition to a new economy that revolves around services, information and knowledge,” says Miguel Sousa Lobo, a professor at INSEAD, one of the world’s top business schools. “We still need food, and we’ll still need our cars and communication devices – but less and less economic value comes from the physical manufacture of the product, and more and more from the knowledge to design it and from the services provided along with it.” Professor Lobo’s work has appeared in leading publications such as Harvard Business Review, Administrative Science Quarterly, Journal of Finance, and Operations Research. He is based at INSEAD’s Abu Dhabi Centre for Executive Education and Research.

Human capital

So, if not farms and factories, what are the assets of this new economy? The assets, according to Professor Lobo,

Photography: Cour tesy of The Drucker Institute, Claremont Graduate University.

Peter Drucker predicted many of the major developments of the late twentieth century and was the first to use the term ‘knowledge economy’ in his 1968 publication ‘The Age of Discontinuity’.

The Knowledge Economy

are people, and the wealth is in the network of people: what people know, what people can do, and how they work together and share information.

International, a global innovation research and consulting network linking 90 countries throughout the world. Dr. Amidon is a renowned expert on Knowledge Innovation Zones (KIZ) who has authored numerous seminal books published in many languages, such as Innovation Strategy for the Knowledge Economy: The Ken Awakening (1997) and The Innovation SuperHighway (2003) which has been called “the breakthrough innovation book of the decade” and selected by the European Union Knowledge Board as a book of the month.

Three vital laws

Miguel Sousa Lobo of INSEAD says that less and less economic value now comes from the physical manufacture of products.

“Creating wealth in this economy requires a new sort of management,” elaborates Professor Lobo. “Daily management is now the management of relationships between people, with all that entails about motivation, incentives and emotions. Strategic management is now the understanding of these networks of people: how to nurture them and how they relate to ever-evolving knowledge and markets.

At the AKEA event, Dr. Amidon addressed the three laws of ‘knowledge dynamics’ on which she believes the success of a KIZ depends. Those three laws are: 1) knowledge in the form of intellectual capital is a multiplier of economic wealth; 2) innovation value is created when knowledge moves from origin to the point of highest need or opportunity; 3) collaboration for mutual leverage provides best utilisation of tangible and intangible resources. There is a long list of key KIZ trends noted by Dr. Amidon and other experts, namely: increasing pervasiveness of networks; growing velocity of change; the next

“Knowledge Economic City in Madinah is part of what seems to me a wise strategic vision for the future of wealth creation: an environment open to new ideas, where sharing of information and knowledge comes naturally. Countries that thrive are those which develop a culture that gifts people with the drive and adaptability to succeed in these open environments.” There is growing momentum across the Middle East for putting in place incentives and infrastructure to stimulate the development of knowledge economy enterprises. The Arabian Knowledge Economy Association (AKEA) held its first conference in January 2008. The event, staged in Jeddah, attracted over 800 delegates and provided a lively forum for debate and exchange of information on the subject of knowledge economy issues. A keynote speaker at the conference was AKEA founder member Debra Amidon, CEO of ENTOVATION

Debra Amidon, CEO of ENTOVATION International, believes the success of a KIZ depends on three laws of ‘knowledge dynamics’.

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The Knowledge Economy

generation internet; pioneering of new business models; quest for the best talent; virtualisation of creative and knowledge markets; cultural balance of local needs and globalisation; increasing open source around the sharing of ideas; growth in the value of intangibles; shift from industrial to digital design economy; opportunity to better leverage visualisation; clustering of talent, techniques, teams, and technology in KIZ. “In an era where there is growing unease, dissatisfaction and distrust in current governance regimes, the Knowledge Innovation Zones in many possible configurations, can facilitate new forms of citizenship in which openness, transparency, accountability, and recall, replace fear, cynicism, fraud,” says Dr. Amidon.

New indicators

The explicit management of knowledge or intellectual capital as a strategic resource is still evolving. The World Bank, OECD and the United Nations have developed new economic indicators in response to the strides taken in the knowledge management field.

“Why the ‘energy’ around knowledge? “Perhaps because it brings the human back into the equation” - Charles M. Savage, author of the book Fifth Generation Management Unquestionably, the internet has facilitated the growth of KIZs. In the opinion of Bryan Elliot Davis, president of The Kaieteur Institute for Knowledge Management, what began as an attempt to catalyse co-operation among economic sectors, including government, industry and academia – what is often now termed crosssector integration – has matured into initiatives that sustain interdependencies within and across industries, municipalities, national and regional borders. As a result, KIZs are evolving to capitalise on stakeholder collaboration and sustainability and when developed intelligently and in harmony with their environment, are good models for strategic intent on both a local and a global platform. “Cities that want to grow knowledge-based industries need to think of themselves as living laboratories – densely programmed spaces where people don’t just use new technologies, but are constantly prototyping new forms of collaboration that are both online and face to face,” says Anthony Townsend, research director at the Institute for the Future.

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Ian Brinkley, Knowledge Economy Programme Director at The Work Foundation says that knowledge workers prefer to avoid becoming hidebound by rules and regulation.

Dr. Townsend holds a Ph.D. in urban and regional planning from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a master’s in urban planning from New York University, and a B.A. in urban studies with a minor in physics from Rutgers University. He has been researching the implications of new technology on cities and public institutions for over a decade.

Urban phenomenon

The knowledge economy is essentially an urban phenomenon and in the US is becoming more urbanised. Knowledge

Anthony Townsend, research director at the Institute for the Future, has been researching the implications of new technology for over a decade.

The Knowledge Economy

workers and knowledge based businesses need proximity – to each other, to sources of finance, to customers, to a wide range of qualified labour, to new ideas and new practices. “Cities become the focus of knowledge services because they provide markets for knowledge based services and goods as well as the right supply side conditions,” says Ian Brinkley, Knowledge Economy Programme Director at The Work Foundation – a leading UK-based independent authority on work and its future. “Cities need to generate markets and attract a critical mass of knowledge workers

World Knowledge Competitiveness Index 2008* Rank, Location, Country, Score 1 San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, US 248.3 2 Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, US 175.3 3 Hartford, US 175.1 4 Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, US 174.7 5 San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, US 160.8 6 Stockholm, Sweden 151.8 7 Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, US 151.3 8 Providence-Fall River-Warwick, US 147.1 9 Tokyo, Japan 147.0 10 San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, US 146.1 11 Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, US 144.4 12 Shiga, Japan 140.9 13 Grand Rapids, US 140.0 14 Iceland 139.8 15 Detroit-Warren-Livonia, US 138.1 16 West, Sweden 137.9 17 Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, US 137.1 18 Sacramento-Arden-Arcade-Roseville, US 133.6 19 West, Netherlands 132.4 20 Pohjois-Suomi, Finland 132.1 * Compiled by the Centre for International Competitiveness, Cardiff School of Management, University of Wales Institute, Cardiff.

Charles M. Savage, President & Mentor of Knowledge Era Enterprises International is in favour of a move into the possibilities of co-creation in the ‘Knowledge Era’.

if they are to succeed. They need an attractive ‘hard’ infrastructure but also an attractive ‘soft’ infrastructure that helps encourage investment in and facilitates the exchange of knowledge based intangible assets. “The soft linkages between, say, teachers and researchers in a major university or teaching and research hospital and local businessmen and venture capitalist are as important as technology transfer. How organisations and institutions work and relate to each other is important. Knowledge workers prefer organisations and institutions with a high degree of trust and loyalty that are innovative, but also avoid becoming hidebound by rules and regulation.”

Leaving rigidity behind

Charles M. Savage, President & Mentor of Knowledge Era Enterprises International is author of the book Fifth Generation Management which is intended to help executives leave behind the rigid mindsets of the Industrial Era in favour of a move into the vibrant and invigorating possibilities of co-creation in the Knowledge Era. In his view, the world is at a transition point or inflection point – as we gradually back out of the assumptions, values and metaphors of the industrial era. Why the ‘energy’ around knowledge? “Perhaps because it brings the human back into the equation,” suggests Dr. Savage. “He/she was left out in Adam Smith’s ‘division and subdivision of labour’ model that under-girded the

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The Knowledge Economy

industrial era. Now John Elkington is talking about the Triple Bottom Line and bringing together profit, people, and planet. We know we need to do something about the planet, but people, that’s not that clear yet.” A certain woolliness or fuzziness has dogged the definition of the Knowledge Economy and the social impact of its increasing proliferation in the future is similarly far form clear. Yet there is undoubtedly greater clarity than a mere five years ago. In his 2006 book The KnowledgeBased Economy – Modeled, Measured, Simulated, Dutch academic Loet Leydesdorff demonstrates how the knowledge base of an economic system can be operationalised, both in terms of measurement and by providing simulation models.

“Today, information technology and knowledge transfer are pillars on which prosperity is built” Dr. Leydesdorff argues that knowledge-based dynamics can be expected to provide a coordination mechanism that is qualitatively different from the hitherto prevailing dynamic of politics and market driven economics. A whole new way of working, in other words. The seeds for this have been sown in industrial countries which have seen a long-term continuous rise in knowledge workers, broadly defined as people working in professional, managerial and scientific and technical occupations. Take the UK, for example. In 1911, when the Census of Population first included occupational breakdowns, knowledge workers made up 14 percent of the UK workforce; most people did manual work in agriculture, mines and factories and large numbers of both men and women earned a living in domestic household services.

Rising percentages

By 1982, when ‘de-industrialisation’ saw hundreds of thousands of production jobs leave Britain for low cost developing countries, the knowledge worker minority had risen to just above 28 percent. The technological revolution of recent decades has accelerated the trend further still. Warwick University’s Institute for Employment Research has concluded that knowledge workers will make up about 45 percent of the UK’s workforce by 2012. The pattern in the UK is mirrored elsewhere, as an ever greater proportion of economic activity is driven by knowledge businesses. It is apparent, however, that for knowledge workers to be motivated, stimulated and able to perform to the highest level, they need to be in the right environment. The earliest hi tech business parks had a lot to commend them but were often isolated, silo-like research compounds rather than proper communities. Lessons have been learnt and taken to heart by developments such as KEC, which Massachusetts Institute of Technology urban planning expert Michael Joroff dubs “new century cities” because they are hi-tech, yet have the necessary fabric to support enjoyable urban living. At Madinah, a development that will put the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on the world knowledge economy map is beginning to take shape.

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The Work Foundation’s Knowledge Economy Programme The UK’s Work Foundation has conducted a three-year Knowledge Economy Programme underpinned by extensive research, including its Knowledge Workers and Knowledge Work report. It concludes that: •O f the current UK workforce, 30 percent are in jobs with a high knowledge content, 30 percent are in jobs with some knowledge content, and 40 percent are in jobs with less knowledge content. ithin the 30 percent ‘core’ •W knowledge worker group, the highest group of all (‘leaders and innovators’) constituted just 11 percent of the workforce. nowledge work cannot be •K adequately described simply by looking at job titles or education levels. •K nowledge workers appear to value long term relationships with their employer and remain fairly attached to the standard working day. • R esults confirmed high economic returns to knowledge – the vast majority of those in the most knowledge intensive jobs enjoyed pay well above the median.

CMY

www.avaya.com

Sources: 1 Dellâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Oro Group, Enterprise Telephony Report, 3Q08, November, 2008; 2 Synergy Research Group, Q3 2008 Enterprise Voice Market Shares - Worldwide, November, 2008; 3 Gartner Inc., Market Share, Contact Center: Worldwide, 2007, Drew Kraus, June, 2008; 4 IntelliCom Analytics, Market Performance Dashboard, First Quarter 2008 Global Report; 5 Frost & Sullivan, World Audio Conference Bridge Market, September, 2008;

Gadgets

Products at the cutting edge A round up of twenty of the most innovative products on the market, embracing those all-important devices that can make your business day easier and some fun gadgets to help you make the most of your leisure time

Apple’s latest iPhone, the iPhone 3GS, is its best yet. Available in 16GB and 32GB versions, the phone has more than 100 new features not offered on the previous version. These include the ability to cut, copy and paste text, a landscape keyboard option, and a digital compass. This has the potential to enable some hyperintelligent applications, such as, for example, pointing the phone at a building to retrieve information about it. Also included are a 3 megapixel autofocus camera with ‘tap to focus’ functionality and a ‘Remote Wipe’ feature that enables an iPhone 3GS owner to erase all data and content from the phone should they lose it. And with more than 50,000 applications to choose from in the Apple App Store, many of them free, you’ll never run out of things to do with it.

Asus EEE PC S101 Netbook (right)

This latest Netbook from the company that invented the category is slimmer, lighter and sleeker than its previous models, but no less powerful. It comes preloaded with Windows XP, and also offers built-in wi-fi, a 12GB shockproof solid state disk drive, plus up to eight hours of battery life. Combined with its rapid start-up time, that means it’s always ready for action. To make the most of its networking capabilities, there’s also a 1.3 megapixel webcam for easy videoconferencing with friends and family in far-off places.

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Nikon D5000 camera (left)

Nikon’s great-looking camera is not only a fantastic SLR, but a high definition (HD) camcorder too. It has a 12.3 megapixel imaging chip for stunning still pictures, plus a vari-angle LCD monitor that means you can take photos from almost any angle. 19 Scene modes automatically adjust the lighting for shooting in anything from snow to bright sunshine. Then switch to HD video mode to capture breathtaking action footage. The camera also has a HD-compatible HDMI connector so you can enjoy the footage in all its glory on a high definition TV.

The O2 Joggler

The O2 Joggler from the UK mobile network operator, O2, is a fridge door for the 21st century. Instead of using Post-it notes and scraps of paper held in place by fridge magnets to tell each other what they’re up to, the O2 Joggler is an interactive, touch-screen device, designed to help busy families manage their lives. It can send text messages and automatic event or meeting reminders to family members’ O2 mobiles, and can receive incoming messages too. It can also do much more besides, such as playing music, photos

Photography: Cour tesy of Apple; Nikon; Asus.

Apple iPhone 3GS (above)

Gadgets

and videos. And you can use it to get the latest news, sports headlines and weather forecasts, as well as local traffic updates. A very clever, very useful piece of technology.

Sony X-Series Walkman 32GB (below right)

The X Series is the latest offering from Sony’s Walkman range. While the iPod may get most of the headlines, Sony’s portable audio gear has always enjoyed a great reputation for sound quality, and the X-Series is no exception. The 32GB version can hold up to 8,000 songs or 120 hours of video. It also has an FM tuner, builtin noise cancelling (great for using on planes and trains), and wi-fi, with a 3-inch widescreen display for playing photo slide shows, browsing the web or watching YouTube videos. Sony has also made it easy to set up Podcast downloads to the device. On top of all that, it looks beautiful.

Photography: Cour tesy of Apple; Sony; Vivitek.

Apple MacBook Air notebook computer (top)

These days, Apple is better known for its phones and its MP3 players than its computers, but the MacBook Air shows it has not forgotten its roots. Carved out of a solid sheet of aluminium, the Air is just 0.76-inch thick at its thickest, and weighs in at just 1.36kg. Even so, it houses a 13.3-inch widescreen display, backlit keyboard, Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB of memory, wi-fi and Bluetooth. Throw in a 120GB hard drive and a battery that offers up to five hours of wireless web surfing and you begin to realise that the MacBook Air’s beauty is much more than skin deep.

Sony KDL40V4500 TV

This 40-inch LCD TV uses Sony’s BRAVIA engine and 200Hz Motionflow technology to prevent the image blur that afflicts some lower-

quality LCD TVs when showing fast action sequences. The full high definition pictures are stunning, and the audio is no less impressive, with Sony’s S-Force Front Surround technology giving movies and sports programmes extra impact, without the need for extra speakers around the room. It’s got plenty of sockets too, including three HDMI inputs for all your high definition source equipment such as a games consoles and Blu-ray player.

Vivitek H9080FD projector (below)

This is the world’s first full high definition LED DLP home cinema projector. Don’t worry too much about the acronyms, all you need to know is that by adding an LED (Light Emitting Diode) module to the conventional DMD (Digital Micromirror Device, aka DLP) design, Vivitek has significantly improved on most DLP projectors, producing the sort of picture quality normally reserved for projectors fitted with three DMDs. Picture are highly detailed, with good brightness and contrast, and if it’s a big picture you’re looking for, this one can project on to screens ranging from 22.5 – 300-inch (that’s 25ft!) in size.

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Gadgets

Samsung BD-P4600 Blu-ray player (right)

It might not look like it, but this beautifully designed piece of living-room furniture is actually a high-performance Blu-ray player. In fact, it’s the world’s slimmest, just 1.5-inch thick, and designed to be mounted on the wall, though it can sit on a shelf if that’s not feasible. It offers full high definition playback, and features Dolby Digital Plus and Dolby TrueHD surround sound decoding. The icing on the cake is a touch-sensitive, backlit display, which makes this an extremely desirable piece of home entertainment kit.

B&W Zeppelin iPod dock

The company behind this iPod speaker dock, Bowers and Wilkins (B&W) knows a thing or two about making good quality speakers, and it shows in both the design and performance of this sleek, curvy sound system. Lovely to look at, even better to listen to, the Zeppelin sports a 50W bass amplifier, and two 25W amps driving the two midrange/tweeter units. That’s enough power to put most other iPod docks in the shade. But while it’s powerful, it’s also refined, with a clean, punchy, satisfying sound that will make the most of whatever tunes you have on your iPod.

Vita Audio R4 music centre (below)

TomTom Go 940 Live SatNav (right)

With voice control, enhanced positioning technology and maps of 35 countries, including Europe, the US and Canada, the Go 940 is already a pretty sophisticated SatNav system. Add in TomTom’s Live services, however, and it gets even better. For a £7.99 monthly subscription (in the UK), these offer all kinds of enhancements, including live traffic information, safety alerts, fuel prices, local search via Google, weather

Photography: Cour tesy of Vita Audio; Samsung.

This is a music centre for the modern era, incorporating a CD player, DAB/ FM stereo radio and an iPod Dock. With 80W of power, it goes nice and loud, while the intuitive Vita Audio RotoDial provides remote control of

both the unit itself, and your iPod when it’s sitting in the dock. There are two additional inputs to connect other audio devices, as well as a built-in clock with alarm function. And whether you choose the rich walnut veneer or dream white high gloss lacquer finish, you won’t be disappointed.

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Photography: Cour tesy of TomTom; Shure.

Gadgets

forecasts, map updates, and emergency services information, including everything from hospitals to roadside assistance. Also included is IQ Routes, which calculates your routes based on the real average speed measured on roads, rather than maximum speeds, providing you with the smartest route, and saving time, money and fuel.

Shure SE210 noise-cancelling headphones (right)

Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s nothing worse than trying to listen to your MP3 player on a plane or a train, only to have the sound drowned out by the noise of the engines. The solution is noise-cancelling

headphones. They work by calculating the frequency of the background drone, then generating an equal and opposite one to cancel it out. The result is a sort of audio vacuum, in which you can hear the music, but not the background noise. Shure knows as much as anyone about headphones, and its SE210s do a fantastic job of cancelling out the background noise. They are also great headphones in their own right, with punchy bass and crisp treble. And they come with a selection of earbuds to suit your ears.

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Gadgets

Scott Genius LTD mountain bike (below)

There are bikes and there are bikes, but they don’t come much better than this beauty from Scott. This is not the sort of thing you’d want for nipping out to the shop. It’s a fully-fledged, grown-up mountain bike for those who take their sport seriously. The carbon frame weighs a mere 2.25kg, and to cope with the rough and tumble of off-road riding, there’s 150mm of cushioning or “travel” as the experts call it, in both the front and rear suspension system. Elsewhere, all the components are right out of the top drawer. Don’t leave this bike chained to a park bench, unless you’ve got an industrial strength lock for the job.

PSP Go games console

Tag’s Aquaracer watches are enormously popular with the diving community, combining stunning good looks, accurate time-keeping, and the ability to continue working at considerable depths. This one will carry on working happily up to 500m underwater, thanks to its crystal sapphireencased innards. It comes with a choice of a black, silver or blue dial with vertical streak effect, and with a black rubber strap or fine, brushed steel bracelet. Gorgeous.

Powertec Workbench Leverage Gym

This fantastic piece of kit incorporates more than 20 exercises to keep your body toned and in shape, including shoulder, triceps and bench presses, leg extensions and arm curls. Weights are mounted on a lever arm for safe resistance training, while the seat section is mounted on an axis. This enables it to pivot out of the way, opening up the main lever section for power movements such as squats and rowing. And at 101 x 56 x 82 inches (length/width/height), you don’t need too much space to give it house room.

Photography: Cour tesy of Tag Heuer; Scott Genius Ltd.

The latest incarnation of Sony’s PlayStation Portable (PSP) offers a 3.8-inch screen, and 16GB of flash memory, which can be expanded to 32GB via Memory Stick Micro. Where previous PSPs played games and movies in the UMD format, the idea with this console is that you download games and movies from the PlayStation Store, either using the PSP Go’s inbuilt wi-fi, or by downloading to a PC and then transferring to the console. Whichever way you use it, the PSP Go will provide hours of entertainment.

Tag Heuer Aquaracer Automatic 500M Calibre 5 watch (left)

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B A F C ( M Y

R A

Don’t worry, it also comes in blue.

New Bathroom Collection Finally, the colour you were looking for in your bathroom: Passion Red, Street Grey, Oxygen Blue, and Silver Grey. Colours to match the way you are. Colours to be touched and felt. Khroma is a new Bathroom Collection that features colour, textures and design. Something unexpected.

Unexpected Colour www.roca.com/khroma

Bahrain: SAYYAR TRADING AGENCIES W.L.L. Tel.: +973.17.290.111, E-mail: sayyartd@batelco.com.bh · Iran: BANA BUILDING IMPORTS, Tel.: +98.21.2613.1223, E-mail: Info@banabi.com · Jordan: A. KAYYALI & CO., Tel.: +962.656.90016, E-mail: info@kayyali-roca.com · Kuwait: ABDUL AZIZ IBRAHIM ALRUMAIH & CO., Tel.: +965.484.88.80, E-mail: rumaih@qualitynet.net · Lebanon: O-TEC CO. FOR SANITARY WARES & TILES S.A.L., Tel: +961.1.868.529, E-mail: otec-co@cyberia.net.lb · Oman: KHIMJI RAMDAS, Tel: +968.24.705.133, E-mail: krbmd@omantel.net.om · Pakistan: ABDULLA & CO., Tel: + 92.21.585.04.90, sabdulla@cyber.net.pk · Qatar: SAYYAR TRADING Co. W.L.L., Tel: +974.469.69.23, E-mail: sayyartd@qatar.net.qa · Saudi Arabia: MUHAMMAD SALEH BAHARETH CO. (MSB CO.), Tel: +96.2.66.33.462, E-mail: info@roca-saudi.com · Syria: TRANS MEDITERRANEAN TRADING CO., Tel: +963.11.661.70.48, E-mail: tm@transmedit.com · UAE (Abu Dhabi): SANITARY MATERIALS CO., Tel: +971.2.677.13.63, E-mail: sanitary@emirates.net.ae · UAE (Dubai): HAMAD RAHMA ABDULLA ALSHAMSI GENERAL TRADING, Tel: 971.4.266.64.29, E-mail: hrshamsi@eim.ae · Yemen: ABUALREJAL Trading Corporation, Tel: 967.1.272.519, E-mail: sanitary@abualrejal.com ROCA GROUP REPRESENTATIVE OFFICE - MIDDLE EAST Gold & Diamond Park, Building 5, Offi ce 111 · Sheikh Zayed Road, 4th interchange, next to Bur Dbai Trffi c Department · P.O. Box 282337, Al Quoz branch, Dubai, UAE · Tel. +971.4.347.64.00 · Fax +971.4.347.64.08 Mobile: +971.50.465.93.24 · Website: www.roca.com

The Internet

Online kingdom Accessing the web for business, blogging and social networking purposes has taken off in recent years, Mike Fletcher finds, reflecting changes in Saudi society and a growing appreciation of the important role communications technology plays in both commerce and leisure pursuits

According to the International Telecommunication Union, in eight short years Internet usage has grown from less than one percent to more than 22 per cent of the Saudi population (6.2 million users). In a Kingdom where an astonishing 38 per cent of people are under the age of 14 and the average citizen is just 21 years old, new internet based technologies and dot com start-up businesses are beginning to break through. Bringing new web applications to market is helped, both by the telecom companies, which are taking advantage of the still relatively low penetration rate by unveiling 3G networks in the region, and by a technologically aware youth market optimistic about the future of their country and intent on developing and embracing entrepreneurial ideas on how to secure that future.

Showcasing what’s new

On 11 March 2009, King Saud University in Riyadh played host to the first DemoCamp Saudi – a showcase event for new online products and technologies. Seven start-up businesses were given ten minutes each to demonstrate their web-based solutions, with a further five minutes for questions.

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Growth has been helped by an increase in internet cafes across the Kingdom, with many offering monthly subscriptions.

The seven demos comprised 3zeema, an Arab social event organisation and invitation service; Fwateer, an online service that enables e-commerce businesses to bill their clients directly through their bank accounts; Moshtry, a service that provides tips, advice and user generated reviews on what products to buy; Kammelna, an online Baloot group card game site; Books Exchange, an online book swapping service; Qaym, an online service for user generated restaurant reviews and Dorat, an online central resource for training opportunities provided by companies. Mohamed Marwen Meddah reviewed both Qaym and 3zeema for English language Internet news website StartupArabia.com. He says: “The 3zeema service is free and pretty simple to use but is only available in Arabic and only covers events in Saudi Arabia for the time being. Qaym publishes reviews of restaurants from around the world but again, the interface only exists in Arabic for now.”

audi Arabia was the last country on the Arabian Peninsula to offer public access Internet. However, despite late adoption, the Kingdom’s inhabitants are currently one of the Arab world’s fastest growing groups of online users.

The Internet

The Internet Service Unit (ISU) of the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) officially opened the Saudi Arabian network to licensed commercial ISPs in early January 1999. The decision to allow Internet access was first announced in April 1997. But it took a further two years for the web to penetrate the Saudi citizenship, due to government concerns that it would undermine traditional values. During the years in between, measures were put in place to ensure that both religious and social online channels could be regulated and filtered.

Daily updates

Today, all incoming web traffic to the Kingdom passes through a proxy farm system implementing content filtering software. A list of addresses for banned sites is maintained by this filtering system and updated daily. KACST also provides a web-based form that users can fill-out to report sites they feel should be blocked or unblocked. A plethora of local sites using English text, which have sprung up in recent years, continues to provide greater scope for sourcing goods and services online.

From food to finance

Photography: Cour tesy of www.mubasher.com.sa

One of the first online restaurant guides and search engines for hotels, eateries, wedding rooms, food products and all food services in Saudi Arabia was Where2eatinsa.com. Other popular search engine services include Saudianyellowpages.com, Mbendi.com, SaudiSearch.com and Google.

Blogging is seeing a sharp rise as a medium for expression in Saudi Arabia, with the number of bloggers tripling to an estimated in 2006, according to the Washington Post. Half of these bloggers are Saudi women. The growth has been helped by an increase in Internet cafes across the Kingdom, with many offering monthly subscriptions.

According to official government statistics, the most visited sites in Saudi Arabia focus on business and real time share prices from the Saudi stock market, with Mubasher. com.sa and Saudistocks.com the two most popular. For English language business websites however, thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Saudia-online.com and Samirad, the Saudi Arabian Market Information Resource which can be found at Saudinf.com. Samirad has a wealth of information on business trends and advice for working in the Kingdom. It also links users through to official sites in English such as the Saudi Press Agency, all government departments and key tourism pages.

The most visited sites in Saudi Arabia focus on business and real time Tadawul prices.

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The Internet

Blogosphere trends

A study published on 16 June 2009 by the Berkman Centre for Internet and Society at Harvard University has mapped the Arabic “blogosphere” and highlighted some of the trends prevalent in Saudi Arabia as well as across the Arab world. The Arabic “blogosphere” is organised primarily around countries. Groupings include: Egyptian (the largest, with distinct sub- and associated clusters, including some women); Saudi Arabian (second largest and focused comparatively more on technology); Kuwaiti (divided into English and Arabic language sub-clusters); Levantine/English Bridge (bloggers in the Levant and Iraq using English and connected to the US and international blogospheres); Syrian; Maghrebi/French Bridge; and Religion-Focused.

“Saudi Arabia’s high percentage of media savvy youth, their appetite for online expression and webbased technologies plus a growing acceptance of English being the global language of digital all means that today, the Kingdom is a fertile online breeding ground” The Harvard study points out that bloggers link to Web 2.0 sites like YouTube and Wikipedia (English and Arabic versions) more than other sources of information and news available online. Al-Jazeera is the top mainstream media source, followed by the BBC and Al-Arabiya.

The biggest issue

Saudi Arabia’s high percentage of media savvy youth, their appetite for online expression and webbased technologies, plus a growing acceptance of English being the global language of the digital world all means that today, the Kingdom is a fertile online breeding ground. Tomorrow, Saudi Arabia could make a considerable positive impact in the virtual world.

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Number of internet users in Saudi Arabia December 2000: April 2001: December 2001: July 2002: December 2002: September 2003: December 2003: December 2005: December 2007: December 2008:

200,000 690,000 900,000 1.11m 1.45m 1.46m 1.5m 2.54m 4.8m 6.2m

Number of registered domain names under the Saudi domain (.sa) 1995: 1996: 1997: 1998: 1999: 2000: 2001: 2002: 2003: 2004: 2005: 2006:

1 9 33 218 1,349 2,820 4,905 4,905 5,980 7,160 8,588 10,213

Accessibility and Infrastructure

Easily reached, a joy to traverse A new city’s viability depends on its infrastructure. KEC’s has been planned with precision and the location will also be able to exploit to its advantage major improvements in Saudi Arabia’s road, rail and air networks

Saudi Arabia’s roads have been steadily upgraded over recent years and KEC will benefit from the improved network.

Nestled in an enviable location 5 km to the east of the Prophet’s Mosque and 8 km from the Prince Mohamed International Airport, KEC will transform the way people live, travel and work in the region.

increase in capital spending to support the infrastructure programme, including the funds for 1,500 new schools and 86 hospitals.

Like many other oil-rich nations, Saudi Arabia turned its attention to improving its infrastructure to keep the country as competitive as possible during the global downturn. The Kingdom is set to spend a staggering US$400 billion on infrastructure projects over the next five years, while taking advantage of lower construction costs. For example, cement and steel became considerably cheaper then they were prior to the global recession.

Addressing underemployment

The boom in infrastructure projects has been given a major fillip by the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA), which pledged in 2005 to make Saudi Arabia one of the world’s ten most competitive countries by 2010 with a programme called 10 by 10. Saudi Arabia’s 2009 budget was set to be in deficit for the first time since 2002 and included a 36 per cent

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The programme will address the Kingdom’s problem of underemployment by diversifying away from oil production to increase the industrial sector’s share of gross domestic product to 20 per cent by 2020 from less then 10 per cent in 2007. The International Finance Corporation ranked the Kingdom 16th out of 181 countries in its Doing Business Report 2009, because of these economic reforms and the ease of doing business. Saudi Arabia’s entry into the World Trade Organisation in 2006 also signalled

Photography: constructionphotography.com

he impact of Knowledge Economic City will be felt more widely than the 4.8 million sq m it covers. The development signals a major investment push, and a new chapter, in Saudi Arabia’s infrastructure.

Accessibility and Infrastructure

Easing transport problems

The project will ease the transportation problems faced by the hundreds of thousands pilgrims who visit Islam’s second holiest city each year during the Hajj and Umrah seasons, with trains racing at 360 km/hour and reducing the travelling time between Makkah and Madinah to 2 hours and 30 minutes and Jeddah and Madinah to two hours.

“In February a SaudiChinese consortium won a US$1.8 billion contract for the first phase of the $6 billion Haramain Railway project, a 444km high-speed link connecting the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah”

an opening up of its economy. While the country’s relative economic conservativeness has cushioned its economy from the worst of the world’s financial crisis, Saudi Arabia is now most definitely open for business with foreign companies queuing up to give the nation a strong structure. The creation of private-public partnerships has acted as a catalyst for foreign investment into the Kingdom. Currently there are more then 62 Chinese construction companies working in the country. In February a SaudiChinese consortium won a US$1.8 billion contract for the first phase of the $6 billion Haramain Railway project, a 444km high-speed rail link connecting the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah. The consortium, the Al Rajhi Alliance, which includes France-based Alstom and China Railway Engineering, will lay the rail lines of the Haramain Express Train from Makkah to Madinah, passing through Jeddah, King Abdul Aziz International Airport and Knowledge Economic City.

The group will also be busy building bridges, viaducts, tunnels and ground structures, while the Makkah and Madinah train stations promise to be iconic landmark buildings designed by worldfamous architects Foster and Partners and Buro Happold. Public areas, including platforms, will be environmentally controlled, and will have filtered natural daylight throughout them. The project is due to be completed by 2013.

International hub

Pilgrims to Madinah will find their journey eased because of the declaration by King Abdullah of Madinah’s airport as an international hub and its expansion to accommodate up to 15 million tourists and worshippers annually. The increase in Hajj and Umrah visitors will see religious tourism figures grow by a projected 240 per cent from their current level to reach 34 million visitors by 2025. With this huge rise in visitor numbers in mind, the expansion of transport facilities is an absolute necessity. The country’s main airport, the King Abdul Aziz International Airport near Jeddah, is also set for a facelift with a

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Accessibility and Infrastructure

King Abdul Aziz International Airport near Jeddah will have a new US$137 million terminal which will boost the airport’s capacity by 30 million passengers a year.

The Knowledge Economic City will also benefit from the Saudi Landbridge, a mammoth rail project that will link Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea and the Gulf coasts, via the capital Riyadh, involving the construction of over 1,000km of railway line. It will have the capability to move large quantities of cargo over long distances at competitive rates and will offer safe and comfortable overland passenger transport. The Saudi Transport Ministry has also finalised agreements with the private sector for the construction of highways in eight regions in the country. The project will see 866km of highway built to service Makkah, Madinah, Riyadh, Al-Qassim, Jouf, Jizan, Asir and Tabuk. KEC’s architects have been carefully studying how the 150,000 residents and 25,000 workers will move through the space once they arrive at the new city by either rail or road.

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Shaded to help pedestrians

HOK has also incorporated several shaded green areas within the built environment that means this will be a walker-friendly city that encourages interaction. HOK has designed the buildings so that they

“The Makkah and Madinah train stations promise to be iconic landmark buildings designed by world-famous architects Foster and Partners and Buro Happold” are not perpendicular to King Abdul Aziz Road, instead it has planned to position the buildings skewed and set back from the main thoroughfare. The result is the creation of pedestrian pockets which form open green spaces and piazza-style areas for cafes and restaurants.

Photography: Getty Images.

US$137 million terminal planned. The new terminal designed by Aeroports de Paris will boost the airport’s capacity by 30 million passengers a year.

Accessibility and Infrastructure

A further 20,000-25,000 casual inhabitants or tourists a year are expected to attend the city’s conferences and use its hotels and campuses. Mohammed Shah, senior technology officer for the project, has explained to the press how users will be able to enjoy connectivity throughout the development, including a virtual presence in their offices when they are travelling. The real achievement, Mr. Shah says, is that there is no precedent for developing smart technological infrastructure of this type. “I don’t have the luxury of looking back at site X,” he says, adding “well I can cut and paste that and put it into my city. That’s one of the challenges really when you are breaking this new frontier in terms of a technological enablement for a community, in a real estate environment.”

“The Knowledge Economic City will also benefit from the Saudi Landbridge, a mammoth rail project that will link Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea and the Gulf coasts, via the capital Riyadh” Another first for the development is its Connected Real Estate initiative, which will provide the technological network architecture of the city, supplied by technology giant Cisco. All buildings will be interconnected and managed over a secure Internet Protocol network. The result will be reduced operational costs for the city and the centralised management of voice, data, video and mobile communications throughout the commercial and residential buildings.

Saudi Electricity Company won the contract to supply and distribute power to the city, providing up to 134 MVA in the first phase with the potential to build another substation with the same capacity as Knowledge Economic City grows. Saudi Arabia is not putting all its eggs into one basket. Knowledge Economic City is just one development designed to create revenue from a variety of sources. Other major projects include six new cities, the largest of which is the King Abdullah Economic City, a US$130 billion development at a site on the Red Sea near Rabigh, 60 miles northwest of Jeddah, which is destined to be the size of Washington DC on completion with 2,000 schools, eight universities and 28 power plants.

Swifter processes

King Abdullah Economic City will also be used to study how to improve the efficiency of the country’s infamously slow customs clearance, including plans to introduce electronic data interchange to link transport companies with Saudi Customs Authority.

A differentiated city

Photography: AirTeamImages.com.

Sheikh Ibrahim M. Alissa, Chairman of Knowledge Economic City, says partnership with Cisco will help to “differentiate” the city as having a world-class infrastructure that will attract foreign investment and encourage Muslim scientists to relocate to Saudi Arabia. Cisco hopes that the technological framework developed at Knowledge Economic City will be replicated throughout emerging economies with the potential to transform real estate developments. The company is also investing in the development by establishing the Cisco Networking Academy to train skilled professionals to design and maintain networks, and by so doing boost the pool of technological talent in Saudi Arabia.

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Accessibility and Infrastructure

SAGIA also signed six agreements in February to develop the Prince Abdul Aziz Economic City in the northern province of Hail. The US$53 billion economic city will be a major industrial hub and logistics centre complete with an airport serving the north of the country, and aims to balance regional development. Emaar Economic City, a consortium set up by Dubai-based Emaar Properties and Saudi Aseer, will be a new urban development made up of six elements, a major new seaport on the Red Sea, an industrial zone, a central business district, and an educational zone as well as residential communities and resorts. The mammoth 20-year project raised a US$2 billion IPO in August last year and some residential units have already been sold.

“While tunnels, wires and railway tracks may not be the most glamorous elements of any development they are the glue that hold together the ideals of achieving a new era of business and tourism in Saudi Arabia, allowing business, culture and lifestyle to flourish in the same city” A US$12 billion community is being built north of Riyadh by Dubai World’s real estate development arm Limitless. The Al Wasl development will consist of 55,000 new homes, offices, hotels, shopping malls, schools and a hospital and will hope to accommodate Riyadh’s growing population, which is increasing by 150,000 a year.

Power demands

The Kingdom’s growing population is placing greater demands on the current power supply, a problem again being addressed by the influx of foreign companies doing business in KSA. French power generator and transport conglomerate Alstom is expanding the Shoaiba power station with a 1,200 megawatt unit and last year German giant Siemens was awarded a US$147.5 million contract to build the power infrastructure for the King Abdullah Economic City. South Korea’s GS Engineering and Construction Corporation and Japan’s Sumitomo Corporation have also won infrastructure projects in the country. Without a doubt the construction of the economic cities is vital to the future of Saudi Arabia, none more so than Madinah’s Economic Knowledge City.

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While tunnels, wires and railway tracks may not be the most glamorous elements of any development they are the glue that holds together the ideals of achieving a new era of business and tourism in Saudi Arabia, allowing business, culture and lifestyle to flourish in the same city. Knowledge Economic City marks the start of a new age of real estate development and a new chapter in the Kingdom’s history.

Fact box Knowledge Economic City will be developed on a 4.8 million square metre site. The built up area will near 9 million square metres. The development hopes to attract SR25 billion worth of investments. The project will add 20,000 new jobs to the region. Population 150,000.

Enterprise Regulation

Commerce made easy Removal of regulatory hurdles, simplification of the tax system and support for start-ups has made it more attractive and straightforward than ever before to conduct business in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

The 50% tax credit on Saudi employee’s payroll and training costs and one-time credit of 15% of industrial investment capital, which Jazan Economic City (above) may offer investors, could be extended to KEC.

Oil is of course a well-known part of the modern story of the Kingdom. Yet while its importance should not be understated, a lot of economic effort is now being concentrated on areas other than the hydrocarbons sector. In 2007, non-oil activities contributed to around 10 percent of total GDP, comprising 6 percent of employment. This compares to the 45 percent contribution to GDP that oil makes. But the Saudi government – currently in its eighth official development plan: 2005-9 – is now aiming for 4 percent growth in the non-oil sector, with an aim to double non-oil dependency in the next ten years. Crucial to this is the development of new so-called ‘Economic Cities’. Six are planned or already in development, intended to be fully functioning conurbations. Each will be approximately 100-200 square kilometres in size and the expectation is that they will be fully finished over the next15 years.

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According to the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA), the cities will contribute $150 billion to the country’s GDP by the year 2020. They are expected to provide job opportunities for 1.3 million people and an increase in per capita GDP to SR125,625 for those living there. It is envisaged that the economic cities alone will have three times the population of Dubai, a GDP equivalent to that of Singapore and comprise an area four times the size of Hong Kong.

Specific functions

Each city (such as the Jizan Economic City, which will support heavy industry) is function-specific. KEC, as we have seen elsewhere in this magazine, has a strong focus on technology. It is being built at a projected cost of SR25 billion and is to become a technology base for 20,000 employees (complete with an IT studies institute) and be home to 150,000 people. And, the good news for businesses is that setting up and running an enterprise

Photography: Cour tesy of Jazan Economic City.

s lands of opportunity go, few destinations currently beat Saudi Arabia. While most of the world’s economies are experiencing a deep and prolonged recession, this country, which admittedly controls a quarter of the world’s known oil reserves, last year recorded growth in GDP of nearly 5 percent.

Enterprise Regulation

Favourable corporate law

Also helpful to businesses is the fact corporate law in Saudi Arabia is similar to that in western countries, so they can easily be run as limited liability operations, private companies or other types of concern. Historically, the law has required that businesses investing in the Kingdom need a local partner who holds the majority interest (but does not need to contribute to start-up costs). However, this underwent a review and, in order to stimulate investment, since October 2008 Economic Cities will now grant foreign investors 100 percent ownership of their project. Nonetheless, foreign investment in joint ventures with Saudi partners has particular advantages. While foreign partners in a joint venture entity may hold 100 percent of the equity

Why you should invest in Saudi Arabia in this city has never been easier. The most significant contribution to this came in April 2009, when Saudi Arabia’s Council of Ministers lifted all restrictions on citizens of other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states – Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar and Bahrain – engaging in economic activities in the Kingdom. The decision is part of an effort to create a common market, and gives citizens full equality in pursuing vocations and commercial, investment and service activities – including, for the first time, being able to perform social services. The change comes in addition to earlier legislation which allowed GCC citizens to practise retail and wholesale trade, with treatment equal to that of Saudis. According to Saad Al-Adhami, senior trade and investment officer for UK Trade & Investment, the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority is “very keen” to get companies to come to Saudi Arabia. As such, registration fees have recently been reduced by 80 per cent. Minimum investment requirements used to exist (at $10,000/£6,500 and $50,000/£33,500 in most cases), but these have now been eliminated, and SAGIA is proud of the fact that companies can become registered in as little as two weeks. The quickest, it says, is three days.

• The 25 million population is booming, growing at 2.5 percent per year. • The average age of workers is incredibly young: 40 percent of Saudis are under the age of 20 and 70 percent are under 30. • The economic cities have been incredibly well planned. SAGIA studied over 1,000 of the world’s Free Zones. They have studied the factors that will make them a success in global competition. For example, they determined that the minimum population size for a city to be globally competitive is 800,000. Any smaller and it would not have the critical mass for the necessary talent pool and infrastructure. • According to the Land Transport Committee Jeddah’s population density is increasing annually by 20-28 percent, followed by the holy city of Makkah with an increase of 20-25 percent and Riyadh with an increase of 18-20 percent.

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Enterprise Regulation

Cour tesy of www.sagia.gov.sa

in some Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, there are advantages in having a local Saudi partner own 50 percent of the equity or more. Here, for instance, it enables the company to obtain an interest-free loan for up to 50 percent of the project cost, which is repayable over a period of ten years. Joint ventures with an existing Saudi company may be an even better way to get business done. Mr. Al-Adhami says: “It’s best to partner with someone on a specific project. It’s very tribal here. If you are working with Saudis who belong to well-known tribes, they will get things done.”

Simplified tax regime

In parallel with making investment easier, the Saudi government recently simplified its taxation system, with very few taxes being imposed. It simply comprises corporate income tax – assessed on the share of the profit of the foreign partner in the local company, and normally no more than 20 percent – and a ‘Zakat’. This is a religious levy on Saudi and GCC nationals of 2.5 percent of net wealth. Of note is the fact Saudi Arabia has no minimum wage.

“SAGIA is proud of the fact that companies can become registered in as little as two weeks. The quickest, it says, is three days”

Each of the economic cities is ‘function specific’ and all are fully intergrated developments featuring ‘live, work, play’ designs.

Useful contacts Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority

A current proposal for the Jazan Economic City is that investors may be eligible for 50 percent tax credit on Saudi employee’s payroll; 50 percent tax credit on Saudi employees training costs; a one-time credit of 15 percent of the investor’s industrial

+966 1 448 45 33

investment capital carried forward for up to ten years. These attractive incentives could also be extended to the KEC. The easiest way to find out more about investment opportunities is direct from SAGIA itself. To simplify communications, it is the sole body responsible for licensing investments with the Kingdom and the Economic Cities and it runs a SMART Service Centre to streamline all the relevant formalities, which include some 128 separate government services.

www.saudichambers.org.sa

However, the Government is keen that interested companies do properly commit to the region – Mr. Al-Adhami says simply building a satellite office in, say Dubai, is frowned upon. “It’s better to have a presence, as it shows commitment to the country,” he says. “Saudis are very proud of their country and see it as a negative if it is being covered from Dubai – they see it as being treated as second best.”

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www.sagia.gov.sa Council of Saudi Chambers of Commerce & Industry +966 1 405 3200

Riyadh Chamber of Commerce & Industry  +966 1 404 0044  www.riyadhchamber.org.sa Jeddah Chamber of Commerce & Industry  +966 2 651 5111 x 3142  jcci.org.sa/JCCI/EN Eastern Province Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Dammam  +966 3 857 1111

Free Time

Escape and unwind For those times when work takes a back seat, there is a huge amount to see and do in KSA, from breathtaking scenery and marvellous wildlife to superb shopping and exciting sport

Saudi Arabia’s cities are modern and teeming with cafes, restaurants and shops, from the souk to the large western department store, but leisure time, in a country where alcohol, nightclubs, bars and cinemas are prohibited, often translates as a walk on the beach, a meal with friends or a visit to one of a hundred different parks. Asir National Park Perhaps the most famous of these parks is Asir in south-western Saudi Arabia. It covers one million acres from the southern Red Sea coast to the desert areas east of the mountains. Opened in the late Eighties, Asir National Park is actually a conglomeration of small parks offering hiking, camping, hill climbing and other recreational activities. Permission is usually required in writing prior to camping in the Kingdom’s parks and wilderness areas but rarely refused.

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Asir National Park covers one million acres from the southern Red Sea coast to the desert areas east of the mountains where 3,200 metre high Jebel Sheda, the country’s highest mountain, can be found.

The country’s highest mountain, 3,200 metre high Jebel Sheda, can be found within Asir. The mountain forms part of the same geological fault as the Great Rift Valley in Africa and attracts climbers of all abilities. Jebel Sheda’s high peaks and rare rocky shapes shelter villages and a number of sites suitable for recreation and camping along the way. Monumental engravings are found at the foot of the climb and once at the summit, visitors can admire the stunning views whilst sampling the locally grown coffee.

Camp sites and picnic areas

Each of the individual parks within Asir have free campgrounds and picnic areas. The 67 campsites and 45 picnic areas have parking, toilet facilities, piped water and concrete seats and tables. They link to nearby nature trails, lookouts and hiking paths. Other than these campgrounds however, most of Asir remains a natural wilderness.

Photography: Alamy.

audi Arabia attracts visitors not only for religious pilgrimage but also for the Kingdom’s stunning scenery and historical wonders, many of which form the backdrop for a range of relaxing and escapist leisure pursuits enjoyed by tourists and locals alike after a hard working week. Beneath the veil, it is a country with many beautiful oasis areas and dramatic mountains, beaches and rivers.

Free Time

Empty Quarter

For the more experienced citizens and tourists with an appetite for desert adventure, organised crossings of the Empty Quarter – the world’s largest expanse of sand desert –can be arranged. Such trips, either by vehicle or by camel require professional expertise and support so are never undertaken lightly.

“The desert’s status as a nature reserve also acknowledges that this is a very delicate environment with animals and vegetation surviving in seemingly impossible conditions so inexperienced visitors are urged to show respect for the habitat” The Rub al-Khali is a nature reserve within the Empty Quarter but visitors require the correct permissions to travel there. Much of the Empty Quarter is protected and monitored by one of the 250 rangers employed by the NCWCD or by one of the 100 professional trackers employed by the Ministry of the Interior who make up an elite, uniquely Saudi, crime-fighting and conservation regime.

Tourists, amateur botanists and zoologists visit this landscape of valleys and scenic mountain views to pursue the study of the area’s plants and wildlife. Animals regularly spotted include gazelles, baboons, leopards and oryx. Birds found in the parks include amethyst starling, spotted eagle owl, Asir magpie and the endangered bald ibis.

The fact that Arabia enjoyed a wetter and more amenable climate during the period 8000 to 2000BCE meant that areas of the country which support little vegetation today, due to the arid climate, were once suitable for human settlement and supported a wide selection of wildlife.

According to the National Commission for Wildlife Conservation and Development (NCWCD) based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia’s birds are among the best-studied aspects of its wildlife and 100 sites across the Kingdom have been earmarked for their protection. The Saudi Arabian desert’s flora and fauna also attracts wildlife enthusiasts. Most expeditions start and end at either Sharurah (Najran), Sulayyil (Riyadh) or Haradh (Eastern Province). The desert’s status as a nature reserve also acknowledges that this is a very delicate environment with animals and vegetation surviving in seemingly impossible conditions so visitors are urged to show respect for the habitat.

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Free Time

The Red Sea offers scuba divers one of the richest marine environments in the world.

Major sites depicting rock art and cave drawings are visited throughout the north, north-west, west and south-west of the country with important locations at Jubbah, (a short distance inside the Nafud desert) 85kms north of Hail, and at Hanakiyah, 130kms east of Madinah. There is also a well-known site approximately 110kms west of Riyadh, on the new Makkah highway, locally referred to as ‘Graffiti Rock’. Animals depicted on these rocks include adult ostrich with chicks, long-horned bovines, ibex, camels, hyenas, onager, and leopards. Both snorkelling and scuba diving are well-established activities across the Kingdom, with dive-clubs, training schools and special interest groups vying with each other for members. The Red Sea offers superb diving and its coastal area features the Corniche where visitors and locals can enjoy the beauty of the coral reefs. The opportunity to experience spectacular marine life in this area has resulted in water sports such as diving, along with water-skiing and surfing becoming one of Saudi Arabia’s most keenly supported outdoor activities.

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Obhir Creek, 50kms north of Jeddah has good facilities for swimming, waterskiing, fishing and sailing and there are similar beaches on the Gulf coast south of Al Khobar. Elsewhere, hotels offer swimming pools and relaxation spas. Recent openings include the first Hilton Garden Inn property, situated in Riyadh’s business district and Park Hyatt Jeddah Marina Club and Spa located in the heart of Jeddah’s Al Hamra District.

“Monumental engravings are found at the foot of the climb and once at the summit, visitors can admire the stunning views whilst sampling the locally grown coffee” The British and US embassies have menonly health clubs as well as swimming pools, golf clubs, squash and tennis facilities. Most companies employing foreign workers also have some sports

Photography: lonelyplanetimages.com.

Cave drawings

Free Time

facilities. The desert terrain provides great opportunities for off-road motorcycling but this sport is prohibited from time to time. Football is popular and most large towns have modern stadiums.

The thrill of camel racing

Few things in Arabian culture are as exciting as the camel races however. The race translates into a mad dash by competitors and spectators alike to the finish line in a cacophony of cheering, camel calls, dust and the engines of four-wheel-drive vehicles racing alongside. The annual King’s Camel Race, which started in 1974, has become one of the world’s largest, attracting more than 2,000 camels and their riders and around 30,000 spectators. It is considered by many to be the highlight of the National Heritage and Culture Festival at Janadriyah, held every February. Competition between the camel owners is intense and at large meetings camels from other Gulf countries will be brought by road, or even air, to challenge each other. Huge prizes of cars or money are made to the winning owners.

“The Red Sea offers superb diving and its coastal area features the Corniche where visitors and locals can enjoy the beauty of the coral reefs”

In winter, additional races are held at the King Fahd International Stadium on Friday afternoons. Camel races are a test of endurance. The track is oval shaped and races usually cover between ten and 14kms. Camels race for prize money, but as gambling is prohibited in Islam, no betting is allowed at the track. The Camel Market (Souq al-Jamal) located next to the Janadriyah site is one of the largest camel markets in the Middle East. It is held every Monday and visitors turn up in their droves during the late afternoon when the traders really find their voice. In a country where a man might be judged by his horsemanship, it’s no wonder that some of the best riders in the world come from Saudi Arabia and that horse riding is another widely embraced pastime with equestrian centres dotted throughout the region.

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The annual King’s camel race attracts more than 30,000 spectators, with 2,000 camel riders racing for big prizes.

Upward swing

Golf is an increasingly popular recreational activity and numerous courses can now be found, mainly within reach of the Kingdom’s three main cities. The most spectacular of these is located in Riyadh in the Dirab valley. The Dirab Golf Course is Saudi Arabia’s first and only 18-hole championship quality golf course situated near the mountain escarpment of Tuwaiq. The centre also has facilities for horse riding, tennis and all terrain vehicle tracks. In order to promote golf, the Saudi Golf Committee was formed in 1999, under

Photography: Ar t Directors.co.uk / Ark Religion.com.

In Riyadh, camel races also take place every Thursday from 4pm onwards. Visitors swarm to the race track, which can be found along the extension of Al-Uroubah Street, in the Thumamah district.

Free Time

where people gather to watch theatrical performances, play tennis or simply eat and drink coffee. Jeddah is the major commercial and industrial centre on the western seaboard and its origins can be traced back 2,500 years to a small fishing village close to the current city centre. Here, the most popular recreational activity is, arguably, shopping. With more than 75 large shopping malls and supermarkets, thousands of individual shops and the many souks scattered throughout the 1,200 square km city, local Saudi people are spoilt for choice.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Of particular note are the gold souks, where items are sold by weight and prices are extremely competitiveâ&#x20AC;? Haggling over prices is almost a pastime in itself and a must for securing the best deals. Of particular note are the gold souks, where items are sold by weight and prices are extremely competitive.

the supervision of the Presidency of the Youth Welfare. Its main objective is to expand the sport all over the Kingdom and produce young golfers to compete in major global tournaments. In 2007 the Riyadh Golf Course and the Dirab Golf Course hosted the Golf Federation Tournament of the Arab world. The publicity and interest that surrounded the tournament has resulted in more and more Saudi Arabians acquiring drivers, wedges and putters and heading for the fairways.

Parks for the community

In the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh, there are a number of smaller recreational parks frequented by the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s workforce. Time spent with family treasured across the Kingdom and these parks form community hubs

In Riyadh the traditional souks are found in the historic quarter of the city around the Qasr Al Hokum district. More modern shopping centres are located in the Olaya district bordered between King Fahd Road and Olaya Street between Makkah Road in the south to the Kingdom Tower at Al Urubah Road. Within this area there are a large number of malls and specialist shopping districts covering everything from fashion and jewellery to computers. However, the area is dominated by The Mamlaka Mall and The Faisaliah Mall.

Major malls

The Mamlaka Mall is in the Kingdom Tower complex, which has three levels of shopping, with the second level reserved for women. The key stores in the 41,000sqm complex are Marks and Spencer, Debenhams, and Saks Fifth Avenue and, in the basement, is a large food hall.

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P co

Free Time

A weekend in ruins Escaping the hustle and bustle of the cities for a weekend of Arabian culture, geography and geology usually requires an off-road vehicle. One popular archaeological destination is the Nabatean tombs and remains of the ancient Nabatean Empire in Maidan Salah, 500kms north of Jeddah. The city’s, tombs, wells and battlements are testimony to the building and engineering talents of these ancient people of north west Arabia. They spoke a form of late Aramaic, showing a heavy Arabic influence, whilst 700 years before the birth of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), the Nabatean Kingdom stretched from Damascus to the Red Sea. Other getaway destinations of note include the Hijaz Railway, made famous by Lawrence of Arabia, the crater and The Wildlife Centre east of Al Taif town and the islands and reefs off the Jeddah coast. Whatever your choice of destination, it is important Spoilt for choice: Jeddah has more than 75 large malls, thousands of individual shops and numerous souks.

to remember that to visit practically any fort, ruin or archaeological site, a permit must be obtained from the director general of the Department of Antiquities

Further north in the capital there are a number of large modern shopping malls such as the Sahara Mall on Prince Abdullah Street, with 180 units. The more modern Deira shopping centre has a total of 500

“Of particular note are the gold souks, where items are sold by weight and prices are extremely competitive” units, whilst the Al Bathaa souk, offers cheap, fake and famous branded clothes, plus fashion items. For a Kingdom better known for its two Holy Mosques in Makkah and Madinah and the millions of pilgrims who visit, Saudi Arabia is a land rich in cultural and leisure activities, as well as religious purpose.

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at the National Museum in Riyadh. Nabatean Tomb of Kahlan Ala Aasy in the Qasr al-Bint area.

By contrast, The Faisaliah Mall has a large Harvey Nichol’s store with a selection of top brand fashion and shoe shops, among its 108 units. In the basement there’s the Toy Center and a food court can be found on the second floor.

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