Neom

Neom is a planned cross-border city in the Tabuk Province of northwestern Saudi Arabia. It will cover a total area of 26,500 km2 and will extend 460 km along the coast of the Red sea. Saudi Arabia aims to complete the first section of NEOM by 2025. The project has an estimated cost of USD 500 billion.

About Neom in brief

Neom is a planned cross-border city in the Tabuk Province of northwestern Saudi Arabia. It is planned to incorporate smart city technologies and also function as a tourist destination. The site is near the Red Sea, and Strait of Tiran and the borders of Egypt, Israel and Jordan. It will cover a total area of 26,500 km2 and will extend 460 km along the coast of the Red sea. Saudi Arabia aims to complete the first section of NEOM by 2025. The project has an estimated cost of USD 500 billion. The city was announced by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman at the Future Investment Initiative conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on October 24, 2017. He said it will operate independently from the “existing governmental framework” with its own tax and labor laws and an \”autonomous judicial system.’ The initiative emerged from Saudi Vision 2030, a plan that seeks to reduce Saudi Arabia’s dependence on oil, diversify its economy, and develop public service sectors.

Plans call for robots to perform functions such as security, logistics, home delivery, and caregiving and for the city to be powered solely with wind and solar power. Some of the illustrations for the Neom project were taken from the Gardens by the Bay in Singapore, leaving commentators to note: “using an actual shot of Singapore to depict an upcoming construction project in Saudi Arabia is an odd choice.” The name ‘Neom’ was constructed from two words. The first three letters form the Ancient Greek prefix νέο Neo- meaning “new”. The fourth letter is from the abbreviation of Arabic: Mustaqbal, Hejazi pronunciation: , the Arabic word for “future ”