The World’s Most Ambitious Construction Project Struggles as it Seeks Funding From China: Saudi Arabia’s NEOM

Amid speculations of its scope and finances, NEOM officials visited China intending to acquire funds for the world’s most ambitious construction project. NEOM officials visited Beijing, Hong Kong, and Shanghai recently to court Chinese investors to stake in the project. The visits made to these cities in China aimed to shed more light on aspects such as the planned mega-city, The Line. While there are no official comments yet on the speculations of its reduction, it is understood that NEOM reduced the length of The Line from 170 kilometers to 2.4 kilometers.

The exhibition offered to Chinese investors and interested parties aimed to give them an in-depth scope of what NEOM seeks to achieve. It is also noted that the exhibition was an invitation-only reception with some of the investors NEOM seeks to bring on board. This included business officials such as Leonard Chan, the chair of the Hong Kong Innovative Technology Development Association. Chan insighted that the reactions about the project were mostly neutral with not too much excitement from the targeted investors.

The Aim of the Private Showcase on the World’s Most Ambitious Construction Project

NEOM’s private showcase on the scope of the world’s most construction ambitious construction project provided attendees with an immersive experience. The showcase explored the Line, a planned 170km-long futuristic city along with the Oxagon. Saudi Arabia’s NEOM noted that the Oxagon promises to redefine the traditional industrial model. It also explored the scope of Trojena, NEOM’s mountain resort, and what it aims to accomplish, such as the construction of the Middle East’s first ski village.

Furthermore, it explored Sindalah, a luxury island in the Red Sea. It is expected to open to the public this year. However, NEOM officials were not too keen on providing insight into the speculations that some of their projects were being scaled down for various reasons. Earlier this month, it was reported that Saudi Arabia aimed to drastically reduce the number of individuals who would be living in the futuristic city, The Line. It was noted that officials cut the number of expected residents from 1.5 million by 2030 to less than 300,000 residents.

The Aspects that Remained Shrouded in Mystery About Saudi Arabia’s NEOM

NEOM’s executive director Tarek Qaddumi noted that the projects that had been outlined are going as per schedule. Representatives for the world’s most ambitious project, NEOM, did not immediately shed insight on speculations about outside normal working hours. Wider concerns have been raised about the trillion-dollar investment projects in Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030 Project. The financial realities of the projects that had not been keenly taken into consideration are starting to kick in. These hard dawned realities have started to cause alarms within the Saudi government as reported by Bloomberg. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has started borrowing funds to see NEOM and other Vision 2030 projects become a reality. The NEOM project is also ready to issue bonds in a bid to raise funds, the first time it has done so.

Other Regions that the NEOM Road Show Visited

Officials representing the world’s most ambitious project also visited other countries such as the United States of America and the United Kingdom. This includes regions such as New York, Boston, Washington, D.C., Miami, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. They also visited France’s capital city Paris, and Germany’s Berlin. Furthermore, the roadshow also visited Britain’s London. All these showcases aim to shed light on what NEOM is all about while attracting investors to facilitate its construction. These are some of the measures that NEOM officials and the Saudi government at large have taken to mitigate the financing challenge.