Budapest Post

Cum Deo pro Patria et Libertate
Budapest, Europe and world news

Saudi Prince Preps $500 Billion Megacity As US Points At Khashoggi Murder

Saudi Prince Preps $500 Billion Megacity As US Points At Khashoggi Murder

While NEOM is being sold as a vision of a brighter future, international investors have yet to bite.

It seems an unlikely vision, a megacity in the desert with no cars or roads, all run by machines that can recognise your face.

Yet preparations for NEOM, the $500 billion signature project in Prince Mohammed bin Salman's drive to diversify Saudi Arabia's economy, are well underway. The organisation behind the development, expected to be close to the size of Belgium when it is completed, will hire 700 people this year, according to Simon Ainslie, the venture's chief operating officer.

While NEOM is being sold as a vision of a brighter future, international investors have yet to bite.

The scale of the project is vast and the region already has well-established transport and business hubs in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Qatar. The development is also inextricably linked to the Crown Prince, who as de facto leader of the kingdom has drawn ire over Saudi's war in Yemen and his own alleged links to the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

A U.S. intelligence report released last week concluded the prince approved an operation to "capture or kill" Khashoggi, who had criticised Saudi policies in columns for the Washington Post. Saudi officials deny this and have rejected the report's findings.

Analysts say the report is unlikely to change investor sentiment towards Saudi Arabia in the absence of U.S. action against the prince.

"They had expected sort of a bigger push back from the (Biden) administration but if this is it then the signal is fairly weak," said Neil Quilliam, managing director at Azure Strategy, a Middle East-focused consultancy

"So I don't see this as being a major impediment to most companies seeking opportunities in the kingdom."

Quilliam said there was some skepticism about so-called 'giga projects', citing the King Abdullah Economic City project in the early 2000s, that never really took off.

The Saudi government's media office and NEOM did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on the status of NEOM in the wake of the U.S. report.

Before the report was released, NEOM said that the project had attracted domestic and international interest.

"NEOM is in discussions with several companies across diverse industries that are keen to be involved," it said in a statement.

NEOM was publicly launched in 2017 but large-scale construction of the city has yet to begin. The project currently employs over 750 people, 500 of them hired last year.

The murder of Khashoggi by Saudi agents in Istanbul in 2018 had already caused an international outcry prompting some people at the time to withdraw from the advisory board of NEOM.

The list of current members is not publicly available and NEOM declined to say who sits on it.

COGNITIVE CITY


Funding for NEOM will initially come from Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund, according to two financial sources close to the matter.

"Investors will start getting interested when the core infrastructure is operating so they are not taking absolute green-field risk," said a financial source familiar with the project.

In 2017, Softbank Group CEO Masayoshi Son said the company would work with Saudi Arabia on the development of NEOM.

Softbank and Son did not respond to a Reuters request for comment on what their current investment plans are for NEOM.

The Saudi sovereign fund PIF has invested around $45 billion in Softbank's inaugural $100 billion technology fund.

The PIF said in an email that its role on major projects was to act as a long-term cornerstone investor to ensure "that capital allocated to all its projects, including NEOM, generate sustainable returns that generate long-term shareholder value".

NEOM's flagship zero-carbon project "The Line" envisages a city of 1 million people run by smart technology with facial recognition and 5G networks as standard.

"We're fundamentally building the world's first cognitive city," Joseph Bradley, NEOM's head of technology and digital and a former CISCO executive, told Reuters, adding that an operating system known as NEOS aimed to seek consent to use data from 90% of residents.

This year's hiring spree will span a range of professions from lawyers, accountants and engineers, to specialist areas such as advanced robotics and adventure sports, according to Ainslie, who was hired in 2019 from Microsoft Corp

NEOM officials say building would start soon on 'The Line', a car-free, road-free city within NEOM, without specifying a date.

NEOM said in a statement that work had begun on surveys and temporary infrastructure, and that permanent works would start this year with the first phase to be completed by 2025.

AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
IMF Upgrades Global Growth Forecast as Weaker Dollar Supports Outlook
House Republicans Move to Defund OECD Over Global Tax Dispute
France Opens Criminal Investigation into X Over Algorithm Manipulation Allegations
Trump Steamrolls EU in Landmark Trade Win: US–EU Trade Deal Imposes 15% Tariff on European Imports
ChatGPT CEO Sam Altman says people share personal info with ChatGPT but don’t know chats can be used as court evidence in legal cases.
Intel Reports Revenue Beats but Sees 81% Rise in Losses
Politics is a good business: Barack Obama’s Reported Net Worth Growth, 1990–2025
UN's Top Court Declares Environmental Protection a Legal Obligation Under International Law
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
The Podcaster Who Accidentally Revealed He Earns Over $10 Million a Year
UK Government Considers Dropping Demand for Apple Encryption Backdoor
Japanese Man Discovers Family Connection Through DNA Testing After Decades of Separation
Russia Signals Openness to Ukraine Peace Talks Amid Escalating Drone Warfare
Switzerland Implements Ban on Mammography Screening
Pogacar Extends Dominance with Stage Fifteen Triumph at Tour de France
President Trump Diagnosed with Chronic Venous Insufficiency After Leg Swelling
CEO Resigns Amid Controversy Over Relationship with HR Executive
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
Tulsi Gabbard Unveils Evidence Alleging Political Manipulation of Intelligence During Trump Administration
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Trump Announces Coca-Cola to Shift to Cane Sugar in U.S. Production
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
Zelensky Reshuffles Cabinet to Win Support at Home and in Washington
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Church of England Removes 1991 Sexuality Guidelines from Clergy Selection
Superman Franchise Achieves Success with Latest Release
Hungary's Viktor Orban Rejects Agreements on Illegal Migration
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
Jamie Dimon Warns Europe Is Losing Global Competitiveness and Flags Market Complacency
Moonshot AI Unveils Kimi K2: A New Open-Source AI Model
Martha Wells Says Humanity Still Far from True Artificial Intelligence
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
EU Delays Retaliatory Tariffs Amid New U.S. Threats on Imports
Trump Proposes Supplying Arms to Ukraine Through NATO Allies
US Opens First Rare Earth Mine in Over 70 Years in Wyoming
Bitcoin Reaches New Milestone of $116,000
Severe Heatwave Claims 2,300 Lives Across Europe
Declining Beer Consumption Signals Cultural Shift in Germany
Emails Leaked: How Passenger Luggage Became a Side Income for Airport Workers
Polish MEP: “Dear Leftists - China is laughing at you, Russia is laughing, India is laughing”
Western Europe Records Hottest June on Record
BRICS Expands Membership with Indonesia and Ten New Partner Countries
Elon Musk Founds a Party Following a Poll on X: "You Wanted It – You Got It!"
China’s Central Bank Consults European Peers on Low-Rate Strategies
France Requests Airlines to Cut Flights at Paris Airports Amid Planned Air Traffic Controller Strike
Poland Implements Border Checks Amid Growing Migration Tensions
Emirates Airline Expands Market Share with New $20 Million Campaign
Amazon Reaches Milestone with Deployment of One Millionth Robot
Yulia Putintseva Calls for Spectator Ejection at Wimbledon Over Safety Concerns
House Oversight Committee Subpoenas Former Jill Biden Aide Amid Investigation into Alleged Concealment of President Biden's Cognitive Health
×