Saudi Crown Prince: First town in NEOM will be ready by 2020

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman described the kingdom's ambitious mega project NEOM on the Red Sea as “a small country in a big country,” in an interview with Bloomberg on Wednesday night in Riyadh.

Mohammad bin Salman said the first city “in an area we call the NEOM Riviera will be there in 2020.”

He further said that Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz spent his vacation this year in NEOM, signaling its importance as a future hub.

The crown prince added: “I believe there are more than 12 small cities or towns next to the sea and other six or seven, some of it in the valley, some in the mountains, towns, and one huge industrial zone, one huge port, three airports, one global big airport. So there are a lot of huge different projects in NEOM.

“We will have from two to three new towns in NEOM every year. NEOM city will be completed in 2025.”

He also pointed out that there are major regional and global players who are interested in investing in NEOM, with many of these global investors coming up with new ideas for the area located along the Red Sea.

He said: “There are interesting partners in the Middle East and globally. Interesting names. I believe we will hear a lot of good stories, one of them we will hear about in February 2019. A new investor will create something new there. We are working on the final details. We are getting his final approval.”