The Red Sea Development Company (TRSDC) that overlooks Saudi Arabia's multi-billion dollar Red Sea tourism project has commenced development of the Coastal Village and has also signed a contract for construction of the first ten residential apartment buildings within the village.

The Coastal Village is expected to house the workers, staff and management of the project, which expects to develop resorts off the Red Sea coast that will span more than 50 islands. The project is backed by the kingdom's wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund.

The Coastal Village will ultimately become home to around 14,000 people who will be employed in roles at the destination when the first phase opens in 2022. The Village will also provide temporary housing for 25,000 workers who will be building the infrastructure and assets, TRSDC said in a statement.

The Red Sea Project is on track for completion by the end of 2022, including 14 luxury hotels offering 3,000 rooms across five islands and two inland resorts, TRSDC said. The project will include a marina, entertainment facilities, an airport, and the necessary supporting logistics and utilities infrastructure.

“The Coastal Village will be a vibrant and engaging community combining the highest quality accommodation, environmentally sensitive corporate offices and a wide range of leisure and recreational facilities, all delivered in a way that is fully aligned with our commitment to sustainability,” John Pagano, CEO of The Red Sea Development Company said. 

While Saudi group Al Majal Al Arabi is the construction partner for the design and build of the management offices, the partner for the development of the residential apartments will be Saudi Amana Contracting, a subsidiary of UAE-based Amana Contracting Group.

Al Arabi recently signed a separate contract with TRSDC to build 5,000 residential units for workers at the Coastal Village. 

“Our sustainable approach to developing the Coastal Village revolves around building permanent assets and repurposing them, rather than building temporary assets for short-term use,” said Ian Williamson, Chief Project Delivery Officer at The Red Sea Development Company.

The first five apartment buildings are expected to be completed by Q3 2020 and the remaining five by Q4 in the same year, delivering a total of 300 apartments, the TRSDC statement said, adding,  the apartments will later be repurposed to meet the needs of employees working at the various hotels, commercial and retail assets, entertainment facilities and corporate offices that will make up The Red Sea Project.

Since announcing the commencement of operations at its Project Base Camp earlier this year, TRSDC has announced the commencement of construction for its 3.3 km crossing to a hub island and 10,000 residential units for construction workers.

(Reporting by Seban Scaria seban.scaria@refinitiv.com , editing by Anoop Menon)

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© ZAWYA 2019 (Editing by Seban Scaria seban.scaria@refinitiv.co