Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed Bin Salman (MBS) ordered the construction of a marine pier in the desert city of NEOM, with an initial cost is estimated at about $2 billion, well-informed sources revealed.
2025 was the target date set by MBS for the marine pier’s opening.
Saudi Arabia’s NEOM, the company developing MBS’s flagship mega project, is looking to raise a 10 billion riyal ($2.7 billion) loan, according to people familiar with the matter.
NEOM, a unit of the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund, is talking to a group of mostly local lenders to raise money to help fund early stages of the $500 billion project, the sources added.
Banks are negotiating terms with NEOM and if agreed upon, the loan could be completed in the next few months.
NEOM is also planning to raise up to 3 billion riyals from local banks to fund the development of Shushah Island, a luxury tourism development, the sources said.
NEOM has earlier signed several deals to bring in investment into the project.
NEOM last month finalized a deal worth more than 21 billion riyals with a group of local investors to develop temporary housing and facilities for 95,000 people under a public-private partnership deal.
Prior to that, it signed a 3 billion riyal loan with Riyadh Bank to fund the development of an island-tourism resort called Sindalah.
MBS’ NEOM was described as a “science fiction” project. A city defined as a wall, driven through an uninhabitable desert, hermetically sealed and reliant solely on technology to make it liveable.
The unconventional megacity is part of MBS’ ambitious NEOM development project, which released conceptual videos showing the city’s high walls enclosing trees, gardens, and other plant life, nestling communities among work and recreational structures.
The Neom “style catalog” includes elevators that somehow fly through the sky, an urban spaceport, and buildings shaped like a double helix, a falcon’s outstretched wings, and a flower in bloom. There will be swim lanes for commuters and “smart” everything.
MBS has long been criticised for his huge spending on unreal megacities, saying that architecture is often drawn to authoritarian regimes for no other reason than their ability to do things by decree, citing NEOM mega-project as an example.
It is worth mentioning 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.
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.
