Egyptian engineer builds 'Chinese-made' prefab homes in Saudi Arabia

On the outskirts of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, rows of "made-in-China" modular buildings are rising from the desert, creating a striking new landscape.

The development is the Sedra Project, led by China Harbour Engineering Company. As one of Riyadh's flagship housing initiatives, it forms an important part of Saudi Vision 2030 plan to improve living standards.

Sedra is being built using fully prefabricated construction. To support the project, China Harbour established Saudi Arabia's largest and most comprehensive smart factory for prefabricated building components. The facility uses digital systems and coordinated workflows to produce components quickly and efficiently.

Egyptian engineer Ahmed Ghanem joined the project in 2023 as a senior structural engineer. He explained that prefabricated construction works differently from traditional building methods: structures are divided into components that are manufactured in a factory, then transported to the site and assembled.

Ahmed said using prefabricated components could significantly accelerate construction, reducing the project timeline from five years to three without compromising quality.

The approach turns building into something closer to assembling large-scale building blocks. Beyond speeding up construction, it also supports Saudi Arabia's push toward energy-efficient, greener buildings. The growing international presence of "China Construction" draws on China's enormous domestic market and complete industrial system, along with the country's recent advances in industrialized, digital, and intelligent construction methods.

While working on Sedra, Ahmed led improvements to several critical technical areas, including foundations and upper prefabricated structures. According to his colleague Xu Chengguang, the project's technical manager, Ahmed successfully improved the foundation design, offering structural reliability and boosted construction efficiency by roughly 43 percent, helping keep the project on track.

Ahmed said he regards the project as his home. His colleagues come from many different countries, which has given everyone the chance to learn about other cultures and exchange ideas.

Wu Yuansheng, general manager of China Harbour's Sedra Project, says the team is steadily building local capability through on-the-job experience, technical mentoring, and skills development. So far, the project has trained 117 foreign technical specialists and 46 project management professionals.

Reflecting on his impressions of China, Ahmed said he had previously viewed it as a vast country undergoing rapid development. His experience working with China Harbour has reinforced that impression, demonstrating to him that both China and "China Construction" are continuing to advance.