French Intelligence Online website revealed that the French drone maker Azur Drones has taken an order to supply Saudi Arabia projects of NEOM and Al-Ula, as the firm continues to develop its business in the region.
According to the website, France’s Azur Drones, a small company based near Bordeaux, will deliver several Skeyetech autonomous surveillance drones to Saudi Arabia in the coming weeks.
Two of the $250,000 drones will go to Neom, Saudi Arabia’s $500bn smart city project, with the two others going to the Royal Commission for Al-Ula.
In March 2022, Jean-Marc Crépin, Azur Drone’s CEO, signed a strategic partnership with Turki Matooq Al Thonayan, the CEO of National Security Services Company (SAIF), owned by the Kingdom’s sovereign Public Investment Fund.
The website pointed out that Azur Drones firm was introduced to SAFE by the Jemarius Consulting. In June this year, Azur obtained a contract to deploy the Skeyetech at the megacity project.
The consulting firm helped Azure Drones to sell its first Skeyetech in the Middle East, to the Dubai Police.
MBS Draining Saudi Resources
For its part, Bloomberg revealed that Neom appears to be one of the crown prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS)’s highest priorities, and the Saudi state is devoting immense resources to making it a reality.
The paper pointed out that Neom offered tax-free salaries of $700,000 to $900,000 for some senior expatriates, more than 20 times the income of the average Saudi, and a broad range of other perks.
Bloomberg went on charging that Neom has become something of a full-employment guarantee for international architects, futurists, and even Hollywood production designers, each taking a cut of Saudi Arabia’s petroleum riches in exchange for work that some strongly suspect will never be used and for designs that never see the light of day.
The Wall Street Journal Foreign also revealed that senior executives working at Saudi Arabia’s $500bn Neom development project are being paid roughly $1.1m each, annually, as part of the oil-rich kingdom’s push to attract foreign talent.
The $1.1m average salary of Neom’s top executives was detailed in an internal Neom list of compensation for different positions, the report said.
Senior executives on Neom’s leadership team, composed of roughly 20 Saudis and foreigners, are being paid about $1.1 million each annually, according to internal documents reported by the Wall Street Journal.
On the other hand, social media users slammed MBS’ massive and uncontrolled spending on mega projects that will never come true.
When #MBS want something, he gets it, & those who object his whims are punished by death. #SCC sentenced to death 3 Huwaitat tribe members whose families were forcibly evicted & displaced to make way for #MBS’ #Neom project! #ShadlialHuwaiti #IbrahimalHuwaiti #AtaullahalHuwaiti
https://twitter.com/BlosserFloke/status/1583325647098634240
Saudi insanity. || MBS’s futuristic mega-project in the desert is supposed to have a ski resort, swim lanes for commuters, and “smart” everything. … $500 billion budget, the people tasked with building Neom say it’s sliding into science fiction.
https://twitter.com/jrcflatheadmemo/status/1580857131611217921
