Saudi crown prince announces start of construction on car-free ‘city of the future’ Neom

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is launching construction on the main part of Neom, his ambitious vision for a “zero-carbon-city” of the future. Neom is envisaged as eventually straddling three states, with zones in Saudi Arabia, and others in Red Sea Neighbours Jordan and Egypt. The ‘main’ part of the project is to be an over 100-mile-long stretch of Neom along Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coastline.

Building Neom is expected to involve the Saudi state investing around $200 billion. That has seen progress delayed, with many believing Neom would remain a fantastical pipe dream, with oil prices at rock bottom over the Covid-19 pandemic that has reduced demand for fuel.

But despite the hit to the Saudi national budget caused by low oil prices, the crown prince is now pressing ahead. Neom is seen as a hub for high-tech industries, as well as tourism. The Middle East state’s leadership hope it will, like Dubai has done for the Emirates, shift international attitudes towards Saudi Arabia. The crown prince himself hasn’t helped his country’s soft diplomacy, largely thanks to his presumed direct involvement in giving the order for the 2018 murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

But he sees Neom as a way to help start to put hardened international attitudes towards himself and Saudi Arabia generally, behind them and play a more direct role on the international stage, beyond being the world’s largest oil producer.

The first stage of Neom will, say the glossy brochures, “co-exist with nature and have no streets or cars”.

On Sunday, the crown prince told viewers of Saudi’s state broadcaster:

“Why should we sacrifice nature for development?” We need to transform the concept of a conventional city into that of a futuristic one.”

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman first unveiled his concept for Neom in 2017, surprising international observers, and many Saudis. Glossy marketing brochures show a space-age metropolis intertwined with greenery, but there are few published materials that could be considered real designs or plans. The city has appeared to still largely exist as little more than a concept, brought to life by artists “impressions”, “inspired” by the crown prince’s ideas.

Since coming to power, the crown prince has pushed an agenda of Saudi Arabia modernising its economy, and moving it away from its historical reliance on the huge oil and gas revenues its reserves, the world’s largest, generate. Neom was presented as the centrepiece to his “Vision 2030” plan for the desert kingdom.

It was hoped that international investment would also be attracted, but that has so far failed to materialise. Many potential business partners may well have been put off by the murder of Mr Khashoggi, and the fact the crown prince has placed many local business partners under arrest in a corruption crackdown that was seen as politically motivated. However, the crown prince says Saudi Arabia will get Neom off the ground with the “backbone”, of the $100 billion to $200 billion investment it is calculated as requiring.

Neom’s plan includes business parks and a seaside tourism hub that will both compete and cooperate with Jordan’s Aqaba resort, and Israel and Egypt’s Eilat and Sinai, linking them with bridges and zero-carbon transportation networks. The total cost of building Neom is expected to come in at around $500 billion.

The return on that huge investment is expected to be a $48 billion contribution to the Saudi economy and the creation of 380,000 jobs. One issue still to be resolved is what will happen to the Huwaitat tribe, many of whom live on the land and have opposed the plans, which will inevitably necessitate relocation from their historical homelands.