New Murabba partners with NAVER Cloud
Three-year technology deal covers Smart City platform
#SaudiArabia #smartcities - Public Investment Fund (PIF) real estate company New Murabba has signed a three-year technology partnership with South Korean digital giant NAVER Cloud Corporation for its 14 square kilometre mixed-use downtown development in Riyadh. The memorandum of understanding covers innovative technology and automation including robotics, autonomous vehicles, smart city platforms and digital construction monitoring solutions. New Murabba aims to create over 300,000 jobs and prepare infrastructure for the FIFA 2034 World Cup and Riyadh Expo 2030.
SO WHAT? - NAVER Cloud is already applying its smart city solutions in Saudi Arabia, and has recently completed digital twin platforms for Makkah, Medina and Jeddah, covering 6,800 square kilometres. The new digital twins are built to work on top of the platform of national mapping service provider Balady, so Naver is ideally positioned to develop digital twin and smart city solutions for New Murabba, integrated with the upcoming Riyadh city digital twin.
Here are some key details about the new partnership:
New Murabba, a Public Investment Fund (PIF) company, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with South Korean digital giant, NAVER Cloud Corporation, for its 14 square kilometre mixed-use urban destination development currently under construction in Riyadh.
New Murabba CEO Michael Dyke signed the agreement during the company's Investment and Partnership Forum in Seoul, attended by over 500 delegates including investors, developers, government officials and technology companies.
The partnership will explore robotics, autonomous vehicles, smart city platforms and digital solutions for monitoring construction progress.
At the project's heart sits The Mukaab, an iconic mixed-use destination incorporating retail, cultural, tourism, hospitality, residential, commercial and recreational components.
The completed development will have more than 100,000 residential units, over 10,000 hotel rooms, schools, hospitals, healthcare facilities and the New Murabba stadium accommodating 45,000 spectators for FIFA 2034 World Cup events.
NAVER Cloud Corporation secured a $100 million contract in 2023 to create digital twin platforms for Saudi cities including Makkah, Medina, Jeddah and Riyadh. Three digital twins projects are already completed.
New Murabba’s existing partnerships include AtkinsRealis, China Harbour Engineering Company, US-based Bechtel and STC Group.
ZOOM OUT - This New Murabba partnership builds upon NAVER's existing $100 million contract with Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Municipalities and Housing to develop digital twins for five major cities including Jeddah, Riyadh, Medina, Mecca and Dammam. Awarded in October 2023, the five-year project represents NAVER's first large-scale technology deal in the Middle East, leveraging the company's proven digital twin expertise from Seoul. NAVER has already completed digital twin platforms for three Saudi cities, mapping over 920,000 buildings across 6,800 square kilometres, with work on Riyadh and Dammam digital twins remain in development.
[Written and edited with the assistance of AI]
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