Splashy Saudi mega-project NEOM chases Chinese funds

Bigwigs behind a Saudi megacity dogged by questions on its viability have wrapped up a tour courting Chinese language buyers, detailing plans for a futuristic ski resort and 170-kilometer-long skyscrapers.

The roadshow for NEOM, the brainchild of de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, traveled from Beijing to Shanghai to Hong Kong, the place for 2 days would-be enterprise companions flocked to an elegant museum to peruse eye-popping renderings in varied levels of growth.

No main offers have been introduced, and prime challenge officers didn’t tackle recent reports that NEOM’s bold building and inhabitants targets are being rolled again.

However they did provide a glimpse into how NEOM has advanced since Prince Mohammed first introduced it in 2017, elevating eyebrows for the $500 billion price ticket.

NEOM’s government director Tarek Qaddumi walked journalists via an exhibition at Hong Kong’s M+ museum on Friday, speaking up NEOM’s objective of balancing “nature conservation, human livability and economic prosperity”.

“NEOM is a very vast vision… It is an initiative that is probably the most exciting and the most forward-looking in the 21st century,” he mentioned.

The exhibition helped make NEOM “less mysterious”, and reactions throughout an invitation-only reception have been “mostly neutral”, mentioned Leonard Chan, chair of the Hong Kong Revolutionary Expertise Improvement Affiliation.

He demurred, although, when discussing whether or not he had been bought on dwelling in NEOM’s centerpiece referred to as The Line, two mirror-encased skyscrapers extending over 170 kilometers (105 miles) throughout the Saudi desert.

“I’ll visit for fun, but I won’t live there. It’s like something out of SimCity,” he informed AFP.

“Maybe if I live there, I won’t want to leave, and it’s like being isolated from the world and I just can’t stand that.”

Plato Yip, chair of the environmental group Mates of the Earth in Hong Kong who’s exploring inexperienced hydrogen offers with NEOM, equally mentioned The Line “feels like being caged inside, even though it may be very comfortable.”

Shortening ‘The Line’?

Unveiling The Line in 2022, Prince Mohammed mentioned its inhabitants would exceed a million by 2030 earlier than climbing to 9 million by 2045.

Nonetheless Bloomberg reported this month that underneath revised projections simply 300,000 individuals can be dwelling in The Line by decade’s finish, and solely 2.4 kilometers of the challenge can be accomplished by then.

NEOM didn’t reply to a request for remark in regards to the Bloomberg report.

Standing on Friday close to a mannequin of The Line—a gleaming blade slicing inland from the Red Sea—Qaddumi mentioned solely that the inhabitants goal of 9 million can be met “over time”.

He described options of The Line together with a 650-meter-long “cantilever” jutting into the Gulf of Aqaba in addition to a “hidden marina”.

He additionally mentioned building was underway on tunnels that may permit The Line to move via desert mountains and an airport anticipated to welcome 100 million passengers a 12 months and provide a “seamless approach” to the town.

“You’ll get off the plane and walk into the city. We will eliminate all the hassle of going through an airport, whether it’s immigration or security or even… receiving your baggage at the airport. Your baggage will be sent to your address directly.”

Other than The Line, Qaddumi mentioned the posh yachting island Sindalah was “well under construction” and would “be completed by the end of the year, ready for visitors to spend some time in NEOM”.

Trojena, the futuristic ski resort boasting a artifical lake and 36 kilometers of slopes, should be completed earlier than 2029, when it’s set to host the Asian Winter Video games.

Different components of NEOM, together with some waterfront residential developments within the Oxagon area, will likely be constructed “after 2030”, Qaddumi mentioned.

Courting buyers

NEOM’s investor roadshow has additionally included stops in Europe and the USA.

The megacity is progressing alongside different main growth tasks launched as a part of Imaginative and prescient 2030, Prince Mohammed’s bid to place the world’s greatest crude exporter for an eventual post-oil future.

Final 12 months the Gulf kingdom emerged as the one bidder to host the 2034 World Cup, that means it now has a decade to construct the mandatory stadiums and enhance its lodging and transport capability.

In December Finance Minister Mohammed al-Jadaan mentioned officers had determined to push the timeframe for some main tasks previous 2030, with out specifying which of them.

“Certain projects can be expanded for three years—so it’s 2033—some will be expanded to 2035, some will be expanded even beyond that and some will be rationalized,” he mentioned.

Robert Mogielnicki of the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington mentioned tasks tied to particular occasions would seemingly be prioritized.

“The Saudis were not going to be able to move 100 miles per hour in every direction on the development front indefinitely,” he mentioned, including that Riyadh wants constant, sustainable international funding progress from varied sectors.

“It’s no secret that they haven’t achieved that yet.”

© 2024 AFP