Saudi Jordanian Investment Fund signs contract with Dar Al Handasah Consultants for engineering design, supervision of healthcare project

AMMAN — The Saudi Jordanian Fund for Medical and Educational Investments Company (SJFMEI), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Saudi Jordanian Investment Fund (SJIF), on Thursday signed a contract with Dar Al Handasah (Shair and Partners) – Dar – and Perkins & Will International, entailing the joint venture to carry out engineering design and supervision services for the Healthcare Project.

Deputising for Prime Minister Bisher Khasawneh, Minister of Investment Kholoud Saqqaf attended the signing ceremony, which was also attended by Minister of Health Feras Al Hawari, Saudi Ambassador to Jordan Naif Bin Bandar Al Sudairi, Director of the Jordan Investment Fund Zaher Qatarneh, and members of the board of directors and the executive management of SJFMEI, according to a SJFMEI statement. 

The contract was signed by Fadi Al Said, Chairman of SJFMEI, and by Abeer Tarawneh, the Director of Operations at Dar, on behalf of Dar and Perkins & Will International.

Commenting on the occasion, Said said that the implementation of the healthcare project is progressing as planned, and that the selection of Dar Al-Handasah and Perkins & Will JV was due to its well-established expertise in the field of healthcare.

Mahmoud Sarhan, CEO of SJFMEI, said: “Signing this contract with one of the most prominent international groups in the fields of engineering design and supervision, represents a major step towards the execution of the Healthcare Project, which seeks to contribute to enhancing healthcare services and medical education in Jordan and the region, in addition to strengthening Jordan’s position in these sectors on regional and global levels.”

Tarawneh said: “We are very proud and honoured to have been selected by the Saudi Jordanian Fund for Medical and Educational Investments to support the delivery of one of the biggest and most impactful healthcare projects in Jordan and the region. We look forward to working with our sister company – Perkins & Will International, one of the world’s leading healthcare design firms – to provide the engineering design and supervision services needed to deliver a hospital and a university that can provide a world-class quality of care standard and serve as a new regional hub for medical research and education.”

The project’s built-up area is estimated at 110,000 square metres, on a land area of about 187 dunums. It will be strategically located on the airport road, near the Ghamadan area, providing access to patients from across Jordan.

On June 6, the Jordanian government and SJIF signed the investment and development agreement of the $400-million project, which will be implemented based on a build-operate-transfer (BOT) model, as ownership of the project will be transferred to the Jordanian government after the end of the investment period.

The healthcare project will consist of a university hospital with 330 beds, and 72 outpatient clinics, an ambulatory care building and a children hospital, and a medical school with a total capacity for 600 students, with a projected annual student intake of 100 students. The project is expected to create more than 5,000 permanent employment opportunities. 

It will be implemented in partnership with two of the most prestigious global institutions in the fields of healthcare and medical education: The University College London (UCL) Medical School, as the academic partner, and UCLA Health in Los Angeles, California,  as the clinical partner.

The project will also include five medical centres of excellence, focused on providing expertise around the most common, and fastest-growing, non-communicable diseases in Jordan and the region, including cardiology, oncology, neurology, gastroenterology, and orthopedics, while also focusing on advanced scientific research through establishing four scientific research centres in the fields of genomics and precision medicine, stem cells and regenerative medicine, health systems and public health, and Bioinformatics.

Up to 7.5 per cent of the project’s revenue will be dedicated to R&D in Jordan. 

The project seeks to bring global knowledge and expertise into Jordan, contribute to improving the health sector in the country, strengthen the model of accountable care, provide high-quality healthcare services, and stimulate medical tourism and boost Jordan's position in this field, the statement said. 

By providing access to distinguished medical education, the project also seeks to build medical competencies aimed at graduating a new generation of doctors, researchers and future leaders in medicine.

The Saudi Jordanian Investment Fund Company was established as a cooperative partnership between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Stemming from the outcomes of the Saudi Jordanian Cooperation Council, SJIF was established on April 27, 2016, and its scope of operations was advanced through a subsequent MoU, signed August 25 of the same year, between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and the Jordan Investment Fund. The Saudi Jordanian Investment Fund was officially registered as a limited public shareholding company in March 2017, under the Jordan Investment Fund Law No. (16) of 2016. 

The Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia owns 95 per  cent of the company, while Jordanian banks own the remaining 5 per cent.