The Prince Sultan Cultural Centre, a major mixed-use development in Jeddah, was unveiled at the Cityscape Jeddah exhibition which opened yesterday.

The centre, near the King Abdullah Sports City and King Abdulaziz International Airport, include a medical city, a major cultural centre, schools, high-end hotels, and villas and apartments that will eventually house some 15,000 people. It is a self-contained community that will extend the city limits of Jeddah even farther north.

Ahmed Al Sanousi, CEO of Prince Sultan Cultural Centre, said: “We want to create a new benchmark in Jeddah, something that generations after us can replicate, the prince sultan culture centre masterplan is addressing our vision of creating a wellness community, a community that can live, learn, work, and enjoy, all this at the new heart of Jeddah.”

For those looking for an in-depth analysis of the Jeddah housing market, the Real Estate Summit at the event, offered insightful workshops led by distinguished members of the local real estate industry.

Zuhair Hamza, executive manager of Tamlik, addressed questions regarding government support of the real estate and construction industry, especially in terms of low-cost housing for middle-income families, development of Red Sea destinations for locals and tourists, new construction techniques and an assessment of the contribution of built assets to the national GDP.

One of the better attended workshops centered on issues regarding the need for middle-income housing. Ziad Al Bassam, CEO, Al Basssam Group, joined Gagan Suri of NCB Capital, Abdulaziz Al Abdullah, CEO of Nowayrah Real Estate Development and Neil Tobin, COO, Sedco Real Estate Development to discuss the economics of closing the gap between the demand and supply of less expensive housing. The general conclusion of the panelists and of attendees was that there is a need for the government and the private sector to team up in order to resolve the issue. All panellists agreed that constructing housing priced for low - to middle-income buyers is an extremely difficult undertaking for private companies that, by definition, are seeking profit.

Gagan Suri revealed during Cityscape that NCB Capital recently joined forces with Sedco Development to launch a new residential real estate fund which was successfully closed after raising SR350 million from investors.   -TradeArabia News Service