Emaar Economic City said on Monday it had agreed to set up a firm with Saudi Binladin Group (SBG) to finance, develop and operate a major port on the Red Sea coast. Emaar Economic City, spearheading the development of King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) on the Saudi Red Sea coast, said its board approved on Sunday a preliminary accord with SBG over the joint venture, which this month will start works to build the port, it said in a statement posted on the bourse's website. The first phase of the port will cost SR4 billion ($1.07 billion) with operations expected to start in 2012 and have a capacity of 1.7 million containers, it added. The statement did not say if the agreement with SBG meant the cancellation of another initial agreement signed in April 2008 by EEC with DP World for the same purpose. The agreement with DP World also aimed at developing and operating the port at King Abdullah Economic City, except that it predicted operations to start towards the end of 2010 and to have a 1.6 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) capacity by mid-2011. DP World were not immediately available for comment.
