Egyptian and Saudi joint venture wins $490 million contract for Saudi Museum in Diriyah

 

Egyptian and Saudi joint venture wins $490 million contract for Saudi Museum in Diriyah

A joint venture between Egypt’s Hassan Allam Construction and Saudi Arabia’s Albawani Holding has secured a $490 million (SAR 1.84 billion) contract to build the Saudi Arabia Museum of Contemporary Art (SAMoCA) in Diriyah, a key component of the kingdom’s $63.2 billion Diriyah megaproject.

The contract was officially signed in Riyadh on April 26, in a ceremony attended by Jerry Inzerillo, CEO of Diriyah Company, Hassan Allam, CEO of Hassan Allam Holding, and Fakher Al-Shawaf, Group CEO of Albawani Holding. SAMoCA, a flagship initiative under the Saudi Museums Commission and the Ministry of Culture, is tasked with documenting, exhibiting, and promoting Saudi modern and contemporary art.

 

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Designed by Godwin Austen Johnson with engineering support from Rafaat Miller Consulting, the museum will occupy a prominent location on Diriyah’s Grand Avenue. The facility will cover a built-up area of 77,428 square meters, with a gross floor area of 45,252 square meters, and has already earned Mostadam Gold certification, the kingdom’s sustainability standard for large-scale developments.

Hassan Allam described the project as a “milestone” for the group’s operations in Saudi Arabia. He highlighted the joint venture with Albawani as a model of integrated delivery, combining regional construction expertise with local market knowledge.

SAMoCA currently operates in a smaller interim location at Riyadh’s JAX Center within the city’s creative district. The new Diriyah museum will serve as its permanent flagship venue, while the JAX Center will continue functioning as an exhibition space.

Founded in 1936, Hassan Allam Holding is among the Middle East and North Africa’s largest engineering, construction, investment, and development firms, and is ranked among the top 50 international contractors globally by the Engineering News-Record. While its portfolio has largely focused on infrastructure, roads, utilities, and industrial projects, the Diriyah museum contract represents one of its largest single cultural construction awards to date.

 

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Diriyah Company, owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, has awarded over $29 billion in construction contracts as part of the broader Diriyah development. Once completed, the $63.2 billion project is expected to house roughly 100,000 residents, contribute $18.6 billion annually to the kingdom’s GDP, and attract 50 million visitors each year. The development encompasses museums, retail districts, a university, an opera house, entertainment venues, and nearly 40 hotels and resorts, with SAMoCA serving as the cultural anchor.

Source: https://www.billionaires.africa/