KAEC to become financial hub in 20 years: Emaar EC CEO

The $100 billion King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) will become a logistics and manufacturing hub for countries on the Red Sea when it’s completed in 2035, Fahd al-Rasheed, chief executive of the project’s developer Emaar the Economic City (Emaar EC) told the Associated Press.

His comments came on the sidelines of the regional World Economic Forum conference in Jordan.

He said he expected as many as 50,000 people to move to the new city by 2020, while over 28,000 jobs will be created by that time.

KAEC is a mega project with a total development area of 173 square kilometers on the Red Sea coast north of Jeddah.

Emaar EC has posted 20-30 percent growth in revenue for the past five years, he added. Its parent company, the Dubai-based Emaar Properties, is the developer behind Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building.