A gathering of stars, businesspeople and dignitaries from Baroness Helena Morrissey to adventurer Bear Grylls celebrated the creation of a $500 billion “smart city” called Neom on Tuesday night.
The city, which will be run using robots and free of cars, might read like something from a utopian sci-fi novel but according to executives at this week’s ‘Discover Neom’ event at Spencer House in central London, it’s about to become a reality in Saudi Arabia, where the crown prince Mohammed bin Salman has already designated an area in the country’s northwest region close to the Suez Canal, near its borders with Jordan and Egypt.
According to official plans, the new net-zero mega-city will be 33 times the size of New York with an octagonal industrial zone that juts out into the Red Sea, becoming the world’s biggest floating structure.
“Neom is a new vision of what the future can be,” creators say on neom.com which sets out the proposed plans.
“It’s an attempt to do something that’s never been done before and it’s coming at a time when the world needs fresh thinking and new solutions. Put simply, Neom will not only be a destination, but a home for people who dream big and who want to be part of building a new model for sustainable living.”
The project is estimated to cost $500 billion and is being funded by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund,the Public Investment Fund, of which the crown prince is chairman.
So what will the city look like and how soon will it be open for visitors? This is everything we know so far.
Baroness Helena Morrissey and Neom CEO Nadhmi Al-Nasr
/ Discover Neom
Project 2030
The proposals for Neom might sound like science fiction, but its Saudi creators insist it will just be a taste of the future of urban living (the name, Neom, is a combination of the Greek word neos (”new”) and Arabic word mustaqbal (”future”).
The smart city is being hailed as the flagship of the country’s Vision 2030 program but insiders suggest that potential visitors might not even have to wait that long.
According to the Saudi government, Neom hopes to have its first residents in place in 2024.
So will we be able to visit in less than three years? Construction is well underway in the country’s Tabuk province. Neom CEO Nadhmi Al-Nasr recently told Bloomberg that the project is a “huge undertaking”but confirmed that 1,500 Neom employees are already working and living on site, adding: “Today if you go to Neom you will see construction all over, you will see earthworks going on all over, you will see regions that are being developed.”
Still, the city is likely to present major opportunities for London when it is complete. This week’s inaugural ‘Discover Neom’ event saw its 250 guests including Baroness Morrissey, Lord Vaizey and Bear Grylls hear about how the city will redefine livability, business and conservation. Discussions also centered on the many doors Neom will open for UK investors, partners and contractors.
A tale of two cities
What is Saudia Arabia’s new city actually going to look like?
First, it’s not just one city. Neom is actually being planned as a 10,000 square-mile city-state, tech hub and 16-borough metropolis, and …….