Al Arabia signs contract to establish, operate, maintain Riyadh’s outdoor billboards

Logo of Arabian Contracting Services Co. (Al Arabia)

Arabian Contracting Services Co. (Al Arabia) signed on Oct. 25 a construction, operation, and maintenance contract for Riyadh’s outdoor billboards with Remat Al-Riyadh development Co., according to a Tadawul statement.

Remat Al-Riyadh is the development arm of Riyadh Municipality, which is responsible for managing the outdoor advertising portfolio. It is the strategic enabler for private sector participation to enhance municipal services and contribute toward improving the quality of life in Riyadh Region.

According to Al Arabia, the contract, which is based on a revenue-sharing model, covers all types of outdoor advertising located in the municipality’s sites for a period of 10 years. It runs for a preparation period of up to 12 months and an investment period of nine years.

The company said the contract’s value depends on sharing the project’s income as per the previously agreed upon ratios or the minimum guarantee (SAR 1.522 billion annually, excluding VAT), whichever is higher.

A 10% increase will apply to both the guaranteed annual minimum and the percentage of project income from the sixth year of the contract until its expiry. The annual advertising fees due on the billboards were set at SAR 10.28 million.

The project covers as many as 1,325 billboards of various types and options, with a total estimated advertising area of 25,700 square meters (sqm). Upgrading the locations of the billboards and raising their number to up to 3,000, as well as doubling the advertising space, is applicable.

Data collection technologies will be installed on all billboards to facilitate the compilation of related data and enhance the database size, streamlining data exchange with alliance partner, Saudi Company for Artificial Intelligence (SCAI), while complying with all relevant regulations and fully maintaining the privacy of this data.

The financial impact of the project is expected to begin to appear from the end of Q4 2023.

According to data compiled by Argaam, Al Arabia won the project from Remat Al-Riyadh on Oct. 25.