credibility gap
Saudi Arabia has been warned that there is a “credibility gap” between its lofty promises of mass investment in projects like Neom and the economic reality it is operating in.
The warning was made by business executives in the Gulf, according to the Financial Times, and comes after Saudi de facto leader crown prince Mohammed bin Salman promised to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on yet another project, “The Line” city, which is to be based in Neom.
“It's very difficult to see how the money stretches out, not only to go into Neom but into all the other megaprojects and ambitions they have,” a Gulf-based executive told the FT. “If they get to half of what they are expecting, great. But at the moment there's a credibility gap between what is being said and what is being done.”
The executive added that “with all these projects, until there is a little more than a publicity video there's not going to be a lot of people taking them seriously”.
The Neom project has so far built little more than an airport and several royal facilities. Its promised tens of thousands of hotel rooms, world-beating health centres, luminous beaches, artificial moon and flying cars have little basis in reality outside the project’s website and leaked documents.
Despite all this, the project is still slated for completion by 2025.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia has been forced to curb its public spending as a result of falling oil prices and the coronavirus pandemic.
more: Neom … A Saudi City without Saudis
