Neom

The city was announced by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman at the Future Investment Initiative conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on October 24, 2017.[10] He said it will operate independently from the “existing governmental framework” with its own tax and labor laws and an "autonomous judicial system."[11]

The initiative emerged from Saudi Vision 2030, a plan that seeks to reduce Saudi Arabia's dependence on oil, diversify its economy, and develop public service sectors.[12] Plans call for robots to perform functions such as security, logistics, home delivery, and caregiving[13] and for the city to be powered solely with wind and solar power.[11] Because the city will be designed and constructed from scratch, other innovations in infrastructure and mobility have been suggested. Planning and construction will be initiated with $500 billion from the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia and international investors.[14] The first phase of the project is scheduled for completion by 2025.[15]

In July 2020, the US’s Air Products & Chemicals Inc announced that it will build the world’s largest green hydrogen plant in Saudi Arabia. The US$5 billion project will be jointly owned by Air Products, Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power and Neom.[16]

The name "Neom" was constructed from two words. The first three letters form the Ancient Greek prefix νέο Neo- meaning “new”. The fourth letter is from the abbreviation of Arabic: مستقبل‎, romanized: Mustaqbal, Hejazi pronunciation: [mʊsˈtagbal], the Arabic word for “future.”[17]

The NEOM project[18] is located in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia in the northwest of the kingdom,[19] extended along with Aqaba Gulf and 468 km of coastline with beaches and coral reefs, as well as mountains up to 2,500 m high, with a total area of around 26,500 sq. km.[20]

The region selected for Neom has a relatively mild climate compared to most of Saudi Arabia.

Aerial view in 2012 of the Gardens by the Bay, Singapore

Some of the illustrations for the Neom project were taken from the Gardens by the Bay in Singapore, leaving commentators to note: "using an actual shot of Singapore to depict an upcoming construction project in Saudi Arabia is an odd choice."[21][22]

Klaus Kleinfeld was announced as the inaugural director for the Neom project upon its launch by Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman on 24 October 2017.[23] In 2018, Kleinfeld signed Gladstone Place Partners LLC for "Communications Services" for the Neom project, for a fee of USD $199,500 plus expenses of USD $45,000.[24][25]

On 3 July 2018, Kleinfeld was announced as the new advisor to Muhammad bin Salman from 1 August 2018 onwards. Nadhmi Al-Nasr would succeed him as the new Director of Neom from 1 August 2018.[23]

According to a US Justice Department filing under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), the Saudi mega-city developing firm NEOM Company hired American public relations and marketing consultancy, Edelman for assistance with public relations on the “smart-city” project. As per the 3-month contract with the Chicago-based Edelman, NEOM pays Edelman $75,000 per month through February, for international work done on behalf of the developing firm. Under the contract, the PR firm stated the provision of communications support in various sectors including, strategic counsel, stakeholder identification and engagement, media relations and content development. NEOM and Edelman refused to comment on the deal. In the course of 2 years since 2019, Edelman counts as the fourth PR firm hired by NEOM following BCW, Ruder Finn, and Teneo. Based on reports by human rights organisations, Saudi residents have pushed against the developments of NEOM, which would require the resettlement of 20,000 residents, including the Bedouin tribe members. A tribesman was also alleged shot dead on refusing to give up his land, raising humanitarian concerns.[26][27][28]

In July 2020, a sponsorship with the League of Legends European Championship has gathered significant backlash from the professional League of Legends community, including athletes and the league's own staff. The backlash is centered around human rights abuses from the Saudi government, particularly its record on LGBT rights.[29] As a result from the backlash, the sponsorship has been cancelled within several hours of the announcement.[30]

In January 2021, the project unveiled plans for The Line, a 170 km long linear city that is supposed to have 1 million citizens without conventional cars.[31]

The development work of the project’s first phase, Neom Bay, was planned to start in the first quarter of 2019 and be completed by 2020.[32] The developments were to include constructing the airport at Sharma which would operate regular commercial flights between Riyadh and Neom.[33] The plan of Neom Bay's developments also involves building the first residential area in Neom as part of phase 1.[34]

In June 2019, it was announced that the NEOM Bay Airport would start to receive commercial flights after the first phase of the airport was completed with runway's length of 3,757 meters.[35][36][37] The airport that is planned to be located at Neom Bay has been registered by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) with the code 'NUM'.[36]

In late 2018, after the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi, Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman said that "No one will invest [in the project] for years".[38] Advisers to Neom, including Daniel L. Doctoroff[39] and architect Norman Foster, were reported to have distanced themselves from the project and the "toxic" Saudi crown prince.[40] Also, the scope of the projects based on the crown prince's vision incorporates some technologies that do not even exist yet, like flying cars, robot maids, dinosaur robots, and a giant artificial moon.[41] It is estimated that 20,000 people will be forced to relocate to accommodate the planned city.[42]

• The Line (city)
• Gulf of Aqaba bridge
• King Abdullah Economic City
• Masdar City
• Prince Abdulaziz Bin Mousaed Economic City

• "Neom" (Full Promotional Video)
• https://neom.com Official website