Saudi prince maps out Neom project to house 9m

RIYADH • Saudi Arabia wants to build a gigantic megastructure that contains a city for nine million people, its Crown Prince has announced.

The design takes the shape of two parallel buildings with mirrored surfaces, rising 500m above sea level - taller than the Empire State Building - and stretching horizontally for more than 100km. They are part of the Prince's US$500 billion (S$694.25 billion) Neom project, a plan to turn an expanse of desert the size of Belgium into a high-tech region.

Announced in 2017, Neom is Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's flagship megaproject. He has billed it as a testbed for new technologies that could revolutionise urban life - as well as a way to attract foreign investment and diversify the oil-dependent economy. But five years in, Neom has been plagued by setbacks, many stemming from the difficulty of implementing the Prince's grand and ever-changing ideas, according to current and former employees.

Neom's plans include an industrial city and a mountain ski resort. But its centrepiece is The Line, a linear city unveiled last year. Initially described as a series of walkable communities close to nature, it has since transformed into the current idea to build a megastructure that makes up the entire city, with gardens and parks along the inside. Saudi Arabia will set aside 300 billion riyals (S$110.84 billion) for an investment fund tied to Neom, with plans to invest in companies that agree to operate there.

The Neom Investment Fund could potentially expand to 400 billion riyals, the Prince told reporters in Jeddah.

The first phase of the project, which runs until 2030, will cost 1.2 trillion riyals, with about half of that covered by the kingdom's sovereign wealth fund, Prince Mohammed said.

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