Orange Business Services signs pact with Jeddah Economic Company for smart city consulting

Orange Business Services has signed a smart city consulting agreement with Jeddah Economic Company (JEC), the master developer of the world’s tallest tower, Jeddah Tower. The tower, which is over 1km tall, will be situated at the 5.3 million square meter Jeddah Economic City Project. Orange will create a blueprint for the ICT infrastructure of the tower, from the plan and design, to the build and run phases.

Jeddah Economic City (JEC) is located between the two Holy Cities of Makkah and Madinah on the Red Sea coast in Saudi Arabia. It aims to become the sustainable new northern district of the city of Jeddah and the focus of economic growth along the coast. JEC will be a destination for business, residences of different types, tourism, leisure, entertainment, retail, medical centers and government offices and services, and will become the new “downtown” of uptown Jeddah.

“The project aims to offer an advanced quality of life in a mixed use environment; with residential apartments of different types, offices, retail leisure and entertainment, hotels and tourism attractions public and cultural amenities that will provide thousands of job opportunities for young Saudis in various fields and numerous investment opportunities. The implementation of the smart city components is considered as an essential step for delivering an environmentally friendly self-sustainable project. The construction of the infrastructure is going according to the set timeframe along with the supply of utilities. Next year, land for development will be ready for investors to start construction,” commented Mounib Hammoud, CEO of Jeddah Economic City.

“In Saudi Arabia, smart city projects are gaining momentum fast and are setting the pace for the region’s rapidly growing economic and technological developments planned under the Saudi National Vision 2030. Orange brings a wealth of experience in developing infrastructures and smart services for smart cities on a global level, together with insights, innovations and expertise. This includes cutting-edge digital technologies that will have a transformative impact on the way people live and how businesses will work in the future. We are delighted to be working with JEC to help them achieve their vision of transformation in the Kingdom,” said Luc Serviant, vice president Middle East & Africa, Orange Business Services.

Orange Business Services is working on a number of major smart city projects in Saudi Arabia. They include the King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD), being built by the Al Ra’idah Investment company, which is the largest of four smart cities in Saudi Arabia being built with a collective investment of over $70 billion. Orange Business Services has operated in the Middle East for over 50 years and established a local presence in Saudi Arabia in 2012 to support enterprise across all sectors in the Kingdom. It has offices in the main cities across the three provinces of Saudi Arabia – Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam.