Neom has promised to be many things. It is a $500 billion megaproject promising to be larger than its neighbour, the state of Israel. It is a megacity, a business region, a carbon-neutral vision of the future built using oil money. It will have robotic dinosaurs, an artificial moon, artificial intelligence running civil infrastructure, robotic servants, and flying cars. It will be the heart of international sports, video gaming, nature reserves, and green energy.
The international press, of course, lapped it up, with headlines about its wild promises that seemed to fit the image of a vastly wealthy state under the new management of the young Saudi de facto ruler, crown prince Mohammed bin Salman. Was it really possible to have a huge region developed in less than a decade, with drones patrolling the skies and luminous beaches? That did not seem to matter.
But in the three years since it was first announced, what does it have to show for itself?
Neom was announced in October 2017 and was set to be a central part of MBS’s Vision 2030 strategy – which is an attempt by the kingdom to move away from oil production and diversify its economy. It is set to launch in 2025 and be fully operational by 2030. So far, it has an airport, a palace, and a few hotels. It is worth noting that Neom’s own publicity features little of the actual developments – it prefers instead to use generic images of sand dunes and entrepreneurs meet in non-descript rooms.
The first setback to the project was the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi by the Saudi regime. This made MBS an international pariah overnight and led him to admit: “No one will invest [in Neom] for years.”
The falling price of oil and, of course, the coronavirus pandemic also hit the project hard. Public spending in Saudi Arabia was dramatically cut down, but not for MBS’s pet project.
To save face, Neom became a central venue in international politics. The Saudi regime began to hold their meetings there, King Salman retired there when he was unwell and it even hosted a secret meeting with Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu. The brand of Neom was kept in the news as people discussed Arab states normalizing relations with Israel, after meetings were held there between Saudi, US, and Israeli figures.
But still, human rights concerns, the pandemic, and oil prices have kept many investors away. Instead, more and more money is being funnelled into the project from the Saudi regime itself.
With little action, MBS wanted to thrust Neom back into the limelight, and in January 2021 announced “The Line”, a city within Neom that is to stretch 170km in length. Again, the international press was abuzz. It promised to preserve 95% of nature in its construction – although few journalists seem to be questioning how that would be possible, since it is cutting through a mountain range. It also claims to be entirely walkable, and that some sort of mass transit system will exist to move people between any two points in the city in less than 20 minutes. As with the flying cars and weather control promised in Neom, that promise does not seem to be based in reality.
The ongoing presentations, high-quality websites, and highly paid PR firms mas the fact that Neom and the line are, both literally and figuratively, built on sand.
And as money is diverted from elsewhere in Saudi Arabia to fund this perhaps impossible scheme, the question is – what will happen if, or when, it does not materialise? Will MBS think of a good excuse? Will the Saudi brand be further toxified? Who would want to invest in one of MBS’s eccentric ideas afterwards?
Until Neom and its associated projects start to appear in the real world, it seems we will be left with an ongoing flow of empty promises and pleas for investment. What happens to MBS when that fails remains to be seen.
Read more : https://neomm.co/blog/saudi-territory-with-israeli-partnership/
