Tall & Urban News

ROSHN Group and PIF giga-project have recently announced MARAFY, a mixed-use development in the north of Jeddah that is set to house over 130,000 residents. The development's main feature is a 6.84 mile (11 kilometers) long manmade canal at its center, which will provide a new waterfront around the canal and connect to and extend Obhur Creek. The canal will be surrounded by multiple unique districts and will be ROSHN's first fully mixed-use development and the first canal ever to be constructed in Saudi Arabia. The canal will provide a waterfront comparable in size to those of large cities such as Chicago, Stockholm, Hamburg, and central London. MARAFY will create an urban water corridor to link homes and communities with nature, commerce, and life-enhancing amenities. 

The development will strengthen Jeddah's position as a regional hub, with high-quality residential, retail, lifestyle, leisure, and entertainment spaces designed to attract residents and visitors alike. MARAFY will comprise multiple distinct districts, each with a unique character, including ROSHN's existing integrated residential development, ALAROUS. The development will accelerate Jeddah's emergence as a global city while preserving the city's cultural and architectural heritage. The facades will be inspired by the historical designs of the Jeddah region and styles reinvented for today. MARAFY's diverse waterside districts will be connected to each other and the rest of Jeddah by an intermodal transport system that includes water taxis, bus lines, a dedicated Metro Red Line station, and a direct canal link to the King Abdulaziz International Airport. The announcement of MARAFY marks a significant milestone for ROSHN Group as a giga-project, and the Group has embraced its mandate to emerge as a multi-asset class developer and become a national champion across sectors in pursuit of Vision 2030's ambitious goals under the guidance of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.

Read more about this story at Construction Week.