MBS is such a visionary leader that he will achieve the once impossible feat of bankrupting Saudi Arabia https://t.co/1LWKAaR75D — Alexander Clarkson (@APHClarkson) April 4, 2024 Man, who would have guessed that 105-mile-long glass-walled megacity in Saudi Arabia might not come to fruition after all. https://t.co/8T06I5MTet — Eric Fish (@ericfish85) April 13, 2024 Continuing …
Cold Grey Pre-Dawn Open Thread: Fading Neom DreamsPost + Comments (86)
According to Bloomberg, the scaling back of the Line comes as the overall Neom budget for 2024 has yet to be approved by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund amid declining cash reserves…
Prince Mohammed, who has long been accused of involvement in the killing of the Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul in 2018, had described the city project as “tackling the challenges facing humanity in urban life today” to “shine a light on alternative ways to live”.
Not everyone, however, has been convinced by the prince’s glossy prospectus. Writing in the New York Times in 2021 at the time Neom released a video describing the prospects of living between the city’s silvered walls, the US journalist and author Robert Worth said: “To watch the crown prince’s promotional video is to be immersed in a distinctively Saudi form of arrogance, blending religious triumphalism and royal grandiosity.”…
MBS is giving out true Shah Reza Pahlavi vibes here pic.twitter.com/V0gBT8kVNZ
— Alexander Clarkson (@APHClarkson) April 4, 2024
MBS’s ‘Mirrored Terrarium Living‘ appeared, to me, quite as overambitious as a certain American-based oligarch’s ‘Mars, beyotchs!‘ fantasies… but MBS had advantages such as ‘currently invaluable resource reserves’ and ‘ability to murder any locals who harshed his mellow’. Turns out even that may not be enough!
The original Bloomberg article is extremely paywalled, but here’s a reprint from Malaysia’s The Star:
… The crown prince, or MBS as he is known, wants foreign investors to transfer expertise and co-fund megaprojects like the one to develop Neom. That US$500bil plan envisions turning the remote north-western region into a carbon-free high tech hub filled with robots.
While Neom has rolled out marketing and investor roadshows, it’s not made serious progress raising capital yet, people familiar with the matter said.
It’s not just along the less-developed coastline that projects are facing headwinds. Near the capital, an entertainment city dubbed Qiddiya has more than US$1 trillion of committed spending – but that’s backed entirely by the PIF and a Saudi developer it owns, two people briefed on the project said.
“If we don’t have clear evidence of more funding by the end of the year, then it’s certainly worth asking where the money is going to come from for these projects,” said David Dawkins from London-based investment data firm Preqin, which analyses Saudi trends.
“They are insanely expensive.”Delays approving regulations for Neom have left question marks for investors. Many said their reluctance to commit funds to the kingdom is often down to unclear and untested laws governing contracts and investment…
But the government, burning through cash, is stepping up efforts to attract much more foreign money. It asked smaller neighbour Kuwait for over US$16bil in financing for projects including Neom as recently as this year, people familiar with the matter said.
At stake for MBS are ambitions synonymous with Vision 2030. While companies like US-based Air Products have signed on for joint ventures at Neom, Saudi Arabia is still on the hook for underwriting close to the entirety of the cost – roughly equivalent to half its current economic output. —Bloomberg
What are the chances of The Line ever being completed and occupied?https://t.co/Troa8RDLvk
— @[email protected] (@roygrubb) April 4, 2024