BOVIS LEND LEASE, the construction group, has teamed up with the British architect behind London’s “erotic gherkin” office skyscraper on a $13 billion (£7.4 billion) plan to build 750,000 new homes in Saudi Arabia.

The pair are working with Saudi Construction Group, a new company backed by some of the Kingdom’s richest businessmen, to develop a huge site about three miles outside the capital, Riyadh. The backers plan to float the group — which could be worth about £1 billion — in London or Riyadh by the middle of next year.

The company is the brainchild of Saifee Durbar, a broker to Saudi billionaires investing in Europe, Paul Bloomfield, the veteran property dealmaker, and Sheikh Faisal al-Sharif, chairman of DGI, a company that is researching a $2 billion (£1.1 billion) petrochemicals plant in Saudi Arabia.

The Saudi Construction Group is designed to cash in on the Saudi Government’s plans to provide a home for every Saudi citizen. The Saudi Government believes that there is a need for between three and four million new homes over the next ten to fifteen years.

The oil-rich country currently houses more than 26 million people but is one of the world’s fastest-growing countries.

Foster & Partners, the architect behind Swiss Re’s landmark office building near the Tower of London, dubbed the “erotic gherkin” will create a master-plan for the huge housing settlement. The site totals seven million square metres and will accommodate about 750,000 new homes.

Bovis Lend Lease will be the lead contractor for the project, which will cost between $6 billion and $7 billion and will be worth between $10 billion and $13 billion when complete.

Foster & Partners is keen to create a ground-breaking development that provides new high standards of modern living in Saudi Arabia.

Foster & Partners has created some of the world’s most impressive modern architecture, including the glass dome over Berlin's Reichstag, Hong Kong’s airport and Bilbao’s new Metro. Nigel Hugill, the former managing director of Chelsfield, the property company formed by Elliott Bernerd, was instrumental in getting Bovis Lend Lease involved with the Saudi housing project.

Saif Durbar, who helped to set up the Saudi Construction Group, is a low-profile Middle Eastern businessman who has helped to fund a string of property development projects in Britain and mainland Europe, including Palm Beach, a casino and hotel complex outside Cannes. He lost a $1 billion fortune in 1995 on a bond deal that went wrong.

Details can be found at:

http://businessdistress.wordpress.com/2009/08/21/saifee-durbar-case-study-in-recovery/

He is also planning to build a railway linking Cameroon and Sudan. This will enhance African self-sufficiency as it will use minerals and other raw materials from the Central African Republic. The eastern terminus in Sudan will also provide a source of aid for the people in Darfur.

Project updates here:

http://longhaulrail.wordpress.com/

http://africanrail.wordpress.com/

http://chemindafrique.wordpress.com/

http://transafricarail.wordpress.com/

We need more people like Saif Durbar who understand there's more to it than money.

Ken Lewis of Bank of America is a thief and conman. As part of TARP Bank of America should hire Saif Durbar to watch out for common people.

I also think Saif Durbar would have done a better job than Larry Tewell of handling the Malibu house thing with Cheronda Guyton. Wells Fargo, Chase, Citibank, AIG, Ford, Chrysler, General Motors, all of them could take a lesson in community vision from Saif Durbar.

Saif Durbar is patalogical liar and pretender. Beware of him as he is really talented to ruin other people lives and businesses. Has convincing energy to sweet talk anybody into anything without any moral scruples. Leads life without mercy or spirituality all that matters is his personal gain, sometimes even in negative direction. Shortly speaking stupid without any big idea behind. Destructive for the sake of it. Smart, professional, naive people can be charmed by big promisses and constant communication. Saif Durbar has psychopatic strong power of minds manipulator. It's better to stop him repeating hisown questions to himself.In daeling with him in general is big waste of time... Dissapointed everybody!

Forget these malcontents. Saif Durbar's accomplishments are quite real and well documented in the world's free press.

Saif Durbar is patalogical liar and pretender. Beware of him as he is really talented to ruin other people lives and businesses. Has convincing energy to sweet talk anybody into anything without any moral scruples. Leads life without mercy or spirituality all that matters is his personal gain, sometimes even in negative direction. Shortly speaking stupid without any big idea behind. Destructive for the sake of it. Smart, professional, naive people can be charmed by big promisses and constant communication. Saif Durbar has psychopatic strong power of minds manipulator.

Tha'ts why he is scamming African newspapers now, so he can hide and wheel deal again in Africa and steel from poorest and the most naive people there. He wouldn't bother to invest a penny into anything, he would just buy diamonds very cheeply - for the price of peanuts in London and smugle them out of the country while pretending as foreign minister or whatever his role is now. So much for African well being...
Poor African people learn from them and create some competition before they take everything out of Your Land!

Saifee Durbar is a man who is well due a long spell in Jail. From his dealings with Drugs that very nearly put him in Jail for a long time (like the others). Claims of losing $1 Billion are absolute fantasy created by the biggest fantasist living on this planet. For Saifee Furbar, this is far more than stealing money.....this is all about living out his dream of being a 'somebody' and not the criminal he is. One day, you will do a long long time in jail and I will laugh on that day......

Its coming Saif..................... ;)

I was too taken in by DURBAR, promised much and worked hard at my expense and given nothing but promises. Liar and general schmooser who loves no one more than his own reflection. Well worth a wide berth! At bes

I was too taken in by DURBAR, promised much and worked hard at my expense and given nothing but promises. Liar and general schmooser who loves no one more than his own reflection. Well worth a wide berth! At bes