Mohammed bin Salman’s dream is being born

As per the words of the late poetic giant Mahmoud Darwish, “the land grows as big as your dreams.” As for the Saudi Crown Prince, the leader of a new vision, the amazing Saudi NEOM project is only for the dreamers.

A dream builds the future. A dream breaks the impossible, it is a train heading for an endless journey. He who does not dream has no imagination, and he who has no imagination will not be able to unravel a joyful life.

Yesterday, the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman released the white birds of hope when he unraveled the Saudi NEOM project. The project was announced in the presence of senior business and finance leaders, and elite fund managers.

The details of the project are abundant. Each and every detail widens your eyes in awe of all the imagination. Those who follow know, but those who saw are not like the ones who listened.

Yesterday, Mohammed bin Salman has sown the new city’s – no – a new district’s first seed in Tabuk, northwest of Saudi Arabia, near Jordan and Egypt, on the shores of the virgin Red Sea, towered by Tabuk mountains. Some may be surprised to know that Tabuk mountain tops are covered with snow in the winter!

The area spreads 26,500 square km. From the northern and western side, the area overlooks the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba at 468 km long, while surrounded by mountains from the east stemming 2,500 meters high.

This is not just a huge real estate project, it’s not some new recreational facility, nor is it a modern financial center, but an idea that belongs to the future. It is the key to starting again.

This goal stems from the virginity of this vast land. Everything on it will be built from scratch. This means that all of its infrastructure and what it is to become will start not from where the world ended but what it will end at in a decade or two.

The project will be a green field where outpouring Saudi tourism money flows in because the Saudi tourism spend is $15 billion.

It will be a region with global standards of lifestyle in terms of cultural, arts and education. A special region which for the first time will include three countries, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt.

A region for the future, where all services and procedures will be done 100 per cent electronically without paper.

This means that we are looking at a new Saudi culture. Mohammed bin Salman only liberated Saudi energy stocks. He harnessed geographical opportunities and elements of Saudi moral strength. More importantly, he believed in the Saudi man, whether in the NEOM project or other projects. Past and present.

Yesterday, the driver of hope Mohammed bin Salman said: “These people who live in the desert have a lot of colossal will, determination and drive.”

This article is also available in Arabic.

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Saudi journalist Mashari Althaydi presents Al Arabiya News Channel’s “views on the news” daily show “Maraya.” He has previously held the position of a managing senior editor for Saudi Arabia & Gulf region at pan-Arab newspaper Asharq al-Awsat. Althaydi has published several papers on political Islam and social history of Saudi Arabia. He appears as a guest on several radio and television programs to discuss the ideologies of extremist groups and terrorists. He tweets under @MAlthaydy.