The General Authority for Civil Aviation (GACA) has signed an agreement with the International Financing Company to establish a commercial city at King Abdulaziz International Airport (KAIA) here, according to GACA spokesman Khaled Al-Khaibari. GACA plans to establish similar airport cities in other regions of the Kingdom in order to provide opportunities to the private sector to establish commercial projects. “The General Authority for Civil Aviation has identified two separate locations at KAIA in which the private sector can build commercial centers, residential buildings, conference centers, recreation areas and business offices to complement the activities of the airport,” said Al-Khaibari. He said the first part of the project is located in the south of KAIA with an area estimated at one million square meters. “The second part of the development project is located in the east of the airport, adjacent to the Haramain Highway, with an area of 1.4 million square meters. GACA will meet with investors to discuss available investment opportunities and possible cooperative plans, Al-Khaibari said. It will choose the best offers by the end of May 2010 in consultation with experts and construction companies, he added. According to Al-Khaibari, GACA has launched several studies to develop KAIA in Jeddah, King Khaled International Airport in Riyadh, and King Fahd International Airport in Dammam, with the aim of increasing investment opportunities and revenue. Apart from the revenue generated from airport cities projects, the creation of job opportunities will help to stimulate the economic development of the Kingdom's regions. “Studies show that airport cities projects worldwide have resulted in an increase in income for non-aviation activities, estimated at more than 50 percent of the total revenue of airports,” said Al-Khaibari. In addition, it is projected that the KAIA airport city project will create more than 34,000 job opportunities in Jeddah alone,” he said.
