Saudi Arabia’s new massive planned city, Neom, is set to be the most ambitious undertaking of Saudi Arabia’s ambitious reform plans to-date. Here’s what we know about Neom so far.
The new planned city is massive. At 10,000 square miles (26,500 square kilometers), the city extends across the borders of three countries, the first special economic zone to do that, according to the Crown Prince.
The city will include a bridge spanning the Red Sea, connecting the proposed city to Egypt and the rest of Africa. “Approximately 10% of the world’s trade flows through the Red Sea connecting Asia, Europe, Africa and America,” a factsheet released by the PIF noted. “The zone will enable 70% of the world’s population to reach it in under eight hours.”
Neom, as shown on a map from discoverneom.com, will be 10,000 square miles.
Neom will be built on current greenfields on the Red Sea, a location in sharp focus for the PIF and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as it looks to develop some of Saudi Arabia’s beautiful coastline. Recently, the PIF has announced other plans to develop tourism along the Red Sea.
The city will cost an estimated $500 billion. That funding will come from the Saudi government, its sovereign wealth fund and local and international investors, according to a statement released on Tuesday.
The city will seek to create jobs and attract talent in a diverse number of sectors. Nine sectors and industries are in focus, “some conventional, some new” to capture a “good share in the future of the world.”
“We try to work only with the dreamers,” Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said, according to CNN. “This place is not for conventional people or companies.”
The city’s location is “rich in wind and solar energy resources,” according to discoverneom.com, providing “an ideal environment in which to develop renewable energy projects.” The area is also rich in Oil and Gas as well as mineral resources, and “the use of such resources will have to live up to the unmatched high sustainability standards.”
Neom’s development will be managed by Klaus Kleinfeld. Kleinfeld, a German citizen with a PhD, is the former chairman and chief executive officer of Siemens AG and Alcoa Inc. The executive was ousted in April as chief of U.S. engineering firm Arconic Inc. Bloomberg noted that Kleinfeld is “the epitome of a Davos Man who is a trustee of the World Economic Forum as well as a regular speaker there.”
“Dr. Kleinfeld has a track record in leading some of the world’s most dynamic, advanced and best-performing businesses and we believe these skills and his leadership will ensure NEOM’s success,” Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said.
Neom might be a more open and liberal society than the rest of Saudi Arabia today. The zone will operate independently from the “existing governmental framework” and will boast “a lifestyle not available in today’s Saudi Arabia,” according to Bloomberg. “A promotional video released on Tuesday features a lifestyle so far unavailable in Saudi cities. It showed women free to jog in leotards in public spaces, working alongside men and playing instruments in a musical ensemble. The one woman wearing a hijab had her head covered with a patterned pink scarf.”
Neom already has a sleek website, discovernneom.com, which shows renderings of the future city. The aim is to attract investment into the area. “NEOM offers unique opportunities and advantages to leading investors and business owners worldwide, with the aim of stimulating GDP growth in the Kingdom.”
