The Saudi crown prince is dreaming big

At the Future Investment Initiative, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) announced dreams to build a new, highly advanced city that spans international borders, bringing together Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia into NEOM.

The NEOM zone sits adjacent to the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba, between Egypt and Saudi Arabia, and close to the maritime trade routes that use the Suez Canal. NEOM links Asia, Africa and Europe.

{mosads}NEOM includes the future King Salman Bridge spanning the Red Sea, connecting the proposed innovative megacity to Egypt and the rest of Africa. Some 10,000 square miles (25,900 square kilometers) are being allocated for the development of the urban area that will stretch into Jordan and Egypt.

Noted by MBS as “humanity’s next chapter,” NEOM will be 33 times bigger than New York City, and more than twice the size of greater Sydney. Significantly, NEOM is the model for the world’s 21st century mega cities and Saudi Arabia will be a leader for the great expansion of urban areas around the world.

NEOM is derived from the first three characters “NEO” from the Latin word which means “new” and the fourth character “M” is the abbreviation of the Arabic word Mostaqbal which means “future.” Furthermore, MBS said NEOM will be built by “… people who live in the desert have a lot of colossal will, determination and drive.”

NEOM is a city project that will operate independently from “existing governmental framework” with investors. The project will be backed by more than $500 billion from the Saudi government, its sovereign wealth fund and local and international investors and will be the first free trade zone that crosses international borders in the Middle East.

NEOM will focus on the food, entertainment, energy and water, biotechnology and advanced manufacturing industries. More importantly, NEOM will feature a combination of A.I., robotics, hyperloops, drones, nanobiology labs, solar panels, Michelin-starred restaurants, and luxury retailers with the promise to launch by 2030. NEOM is to make for a “new generation of cities” and will be powered by clean energy signaling that MBS takes climate change seriously.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s vision is to make NEOM a centerpiece of the fourth revolution and innovation by creating the ultimate free trade zone where Saudi and international experts can bring the future to the kingdom. Robotics, 3-D printing, innovation are all part of the NEOM’s mission. More importantly, MBS noted “The strong political will and the desire of a nation. All the success factors are there to create something big in Saudi Arabia.”

To drive the point home on the need for moderation and urgency, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman argued, “We are simply reverting to what we followed — a moderate Islam open to the world and all religions. “Seventy per cent of the Saudis are younger than 30.

Honestly, we won’t waste 30 years of our life combating extremist thoughts. We will destroy them now and immediately.” The seriousness with which MBS and the Saudi government are approaching the required social and political transition in the kingdom is beyond doubt the most important aspect of the kingdom’s transformation. 

NEOM’s development is to be overseen by Klaus Kleinfeld, the former chairman and chief executive officer of Siemens AG and Alcoa Inc. SoftBank Group Corp.’s Vision Fund signed an initial agreement with the kingdom’s wealth fund to buy a “significant” stake in state-controlled Saudi Electricity Company., and will provide energy for the new city. Saudi Arabia this year agreed to become an investor in Softbank Vision Fund with a 100 billion dollar investment plan to prepare for the next wave of the information revolution.

NEOM is a new city state model. Sharia is to be moderate and the mixing of gender encouraged. NEOM provides a key opportunity to minimize GDP decline by allowing those that would invest outside the country normally, to give them an option of investing locally, hence minimizing the GDP flight that occurs because of limited local investment opportunities. There will be no shortage of opportunity for intellectual and capital grown in NEOM by the world’s best and most knowledgeable, forward leaning inventors.

Notably, south of NEOM on the Red Sea Coast is the Red Sea Coast Resort 2022 that is to transform hundreds of kilometers of Red Sea Coast into luxury resort areas. Up to 50 islands and 34,000 square kilometers — an area bigger than Belgium — between the cities of Umluj and Al Wajh, are to become a global tourist hotspot. Entertainment zones will feature looser social rules over dress and the consumption of alcohol.

Both NEOM and the Red Sea Coast Resorts (RSCR) will be the largest construction projects in the history of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Both projects, set on maritime routes and waterways, will transform the Red Sea into a thriving regional hub that boosts the Hijaz to both regional and international standing as a travel destination for tourists and business entrepreneurs alike.

When adding the global Hajj and Ummrah industry to NEOM and RSCR future potential, the potential revenue and growth for Saudi Arabia will no doubt bring the Saudi kingdom into the first world. MBS’s dream will be a reality.

Salman Al-Ansari is the Founder and President of the Washington, DC-based Saudi American Public Relation Affairs Committee (SAPRAC). You can find him on Twitter: @Salansar1.