Limitless creates its first new community in KSA
Limitless, a global master development arm of Dubai World, will create a SR45bn urban community in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the company announced today.
Al Wasl, on show at Cityscape Dubai from 16 October, is the first of several projects planned by Limitless in KSA. It will be developed on a 1411 hectare (14.1 million square metre) site north of the Saudi capital, Riyadh.
Iconic, integrated, and designed to reflect and complement the natural environment of nearby Wadi Hanifa, Al Wasl will comprise a number of inter-connected districts, with more than 60,000 homes, as well as offices, hotels, mosques, health and educational facilities, shopping malls and sports amenities.
There will also be extensive open spaces: 300 hectares – almost a quarter of the entire development – will be ‘green’, with landscaped parks and boulevards to connect each district within Al Wasl.
Saeed Ahmed Saeed, Chief Executive Officer of Limitless, said, ‘Riyadh’s population is growing by 150,000 – or three per cent – every year. Some 50,000 new homes are required annually to accommodate the capital’s rapidly-increasing numbers. Around five million people live in Riyadh today: in 20 years the figure will rise to eight million if the population continues to grow at current rates.
Al Wasl is tailor-made to preserve traditional Saudi Arabian culture while creating a modern, self-sustaining community for more than 200,000 people. The project draws on our key strengths of master planning large-scale urban projects and creating sizeable, mixed-use communities. And it’s the first of many Limitless projects in the pipeline for KSA.’
Al Wasl will include:
- more than 60,000 homes – a mixture of villas, townhouses and apartments;
- over 300 hectares of green, open space;
- one million square metres of office space;
- three large mosques, each accommodating up to 2,000 people;
- more than 2,000 hotel rooms;
- seven shopping centres, including a world class mall, with a total of 270,000 square metres of retail facilities;
- schools and a university;
- a hospital;
- a sports stadium;
- easy access to King Khaled International Airport – 15 minutes by car; and;
- an internal transit system providing convenient links to and from areas within the development.
Al Wasl is expected to break ground in mid-2008, with phased construction over seven years.
