Ewaan aims to deliver craftsmanship in its residential unit construction projects with designs that are inspired by local surroundings. It also seeks to provide basic requirements of integrated housing projects.

Ewaan’s vision



Ewaan aspires to be a successful leader in providing high-quality residential communities in the region through painstaking pursuit of excellence.

Ewaan’s mission



To build and offer

high-quality and affordable residential units

in desirable



environments to communities, reflective of local values and aspirations.



When did it all begin?



Taking advantage of the favorable environment in the Saudi market, Ewaan established itself as a closed joint-stock company with a paid-up capital of SR 400 million. In fact, Ewaan is the outcome of the partnership between a group of established corporations, including the Islamic Corporation for Private Sector Development (ICD), which is affiliated with the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), Real Estate Development Company (subsidiary to SEDCO Group), Public Pension Agency and the International Investment Bank (IIB) – to name a few. We are confident that we can provide a new lifestyle in the Kingdom that reflects perfection in every detail.



Riad Althaqafi, Ewaan CEO, says real estate development involves a series of activities that begin when a project is studied and end when the project is sold to the end-user.



In other words, an idea should be studied well first before the search for a suitable location for the project begins, Althaqafi explained. Once a suitable land has been found and the needs of the end-users have been identified, the process of searching for a suitable contractor and proper means of financing starts, he added.



“The idea is that any project should go through several phases if we want to comply with professional standards. This is what we did when we took on Al-Fareeda Project. It was an idea in the beginning that has turned into reality,” Althaqafi said.



About Ewaan



Ewaan has recently published a detailed report about urban growth and expansion in north and northeast Jeddah. The company carried out a series of studies on the real estate market and interviewed hundreds of citizens who expressed their desire to move to these parts of the governorate and live there. It was able to gather a wealth of information about the development of real estate market and the requirements of the targeted sectors.



According to the report, real estate prices have risen over the past few years reaching astronomical figures. It has become difficult for many citizens to own a residential unit of their own, or a house for that matter. There was a dire need to search for alternatives on the outskirts of Jeddah, alternatives that are affordable to low- and middle-income citizens.



Undoubtedly, Jeddah as a governorate has seen an increasing growth in terms of population over the past three decades. With this growth, the demand on housing has gone up and people have become more interested in owning homes in the northern part of the governorate, an area which has attracted investors and citizens alike in the past five years.



This urban expansion in the north coincided with the increasing demand on loans granted by the Real Estate Development Fund, especially after the government decided to increase the fund’s capital so that more borrowers can get loans.



Noticeably, there was a marked increase on these loans from young men who wanted to get married and newly-wed men. Investors and real estate companies saw a good investment opportunity in north Jeddah and decided to develop residential projects for middle-income citizens.



Solutions for traffic congestion



Most major cities in the Kingdom, Jeddah included, seem to have this problem — traffic congestion. Growth of population, development projects being implemented by Jeddah Mayoralty, water and sewage projects, and the increasing number of visitors during holidays and vacation have all had their toll on traffic congestion problem.



Due to these factors, investors and real estate companies have set their eyes on the north of the governorate, an area which is characterized by its vast land spaces and quietness as well as distance from areas of traffic congestions.



Ewaan’s study also showed that north Jeddah has seen the establishment of many tourist resorts, parks, restaurants, and other basic facilities over the past few years.



Ewaan’s park project in Dhahban



Jeddah Mayoralty has earlier chosen Dhahban, also known as new Jeddah, to be the new urban option, which will witness the construction of public facilities and the implementation of various projects. Just 25 kms away from Jeddah, Dhahban is located along a 20-km-long coast. It enjoys a strategic location.



Prince Mansour Bin Miteb Bin Abdul Aziz, Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs, announced earlier that work at the project site where parks would be constructed in Dhahban, northwest Jeddah, had started. The 100,000-sq-meter-area project is being implemented simultaneously with the construction of a sea park alongside the Red Sea at Salman Bay.



25,000 residential units



One of the most important housing projects in the area is Salman Bay Housing Project. Jeddah Mayoralty supervises this project while the Jeddah Urban Development Company is responsible for developing it.



25,000 residential units will be built for Saudi citizens over an area of 3 million sq meters while dozens of educational, health, sports, and entertainment facilities together with commercial centers and roads will be constructed as well. Construction work at King Abdullah General Hospital is almost over.



Moreover, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah has given directives to allocate two lands with total area of 5.5 million sq meters for constructing King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center in Jeddah.



Scores of public organizations and major companies have noticed the government’s interest in north Jeddah. They have decided to implement development projects to attract investors and citizens.



Some of these projects include King Abdullah Sport City, Al-Thuraya University, Batterjee Medical College, Al-Fareeda Residential Project, College of Business Administration in addition to several viable projects.

The real problem of real estate market lies in the fact that many small businesses in this field tend to implement small projects such as building houses without complying with professional standards, Althaqafi said.

 

The result: these projects prove to have major defects shortly after being implemented, he added. “Most of these small companies don’t have considerable experience in the field and that is why their projects prove to be weak.”



When citizens resort to these companies to build their homes, they somehow make these companies raise implementation costs.



Needless to say, citizens will face the difficulty of obtaining proper construction licenses and will have to follow up with different government agencies before completing all necessary documents in order to construct their houses, noted Althaqafi.



Jeddah lacks pioneering housing projects such as the ones implemented by specialized real estate development companies. However, there are few projects of this kind being implemented by certain companies. But they are only few, according to Althaqafi.



Al-Fareeda Residential Project



Ewaan recognizes the importance of integrated housing projects. Al-Fareeda is the only project of this kind being implemented, developed, and marketed in Dhahban by Ewaan Global Residential Company. It was Ewaan, which took the first initiative five years ago to carry out such a mega project over an area of 1.1 million sq meters.



The SR1.8-billion project consists of approximately 1,800 residential units of different sizes and designs. It is the largest project in the governorate and has an advanced infrastructure, service amenities, telecommunication network, electricity lines, water pipes, sewage and rainwater drainage system, and road networks carefully designed to prevent traffic congestions.



The structural frame of the first phase consisted of 324 residential units all of which have been sold.



You can find more information about the project from the sales center, Ewaan’s website, or contact number. Ewaan’s current priority is to hand over the residential units of the first phase at the end of the year 2013 and meet the deadline.



In a nutshell, Al-Fareeda Residential Project should be a model for all housing projects, which meets the needs of investors and citizens. This type of projects should be encouraged in order to save time, efforts, and money for investors, developers, end-users, and government agencies.

At Ewaan, we are more than glad to cooperate and enter into partnerships with any investor interested in such projects, which are lucrative for all parties concerned.

Ask Ewaan



Okaz readers who have questions, remarks or comments that might support real estate development and help answer questions asked by readers can sent to Ewaan general questions. We will answer the questions in the next edition.



This real estate page is issued by Ewaan Global Residential Company and supervised by Khalid Abdullah Al-Jarrallah, a real estate consultant.



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