Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is asking Wall Street to help fund his latest extravagant megaproject, a $500 billion futuristic city-state powered by robots and artificial intelligence that will cover 10,000 square miles of land. Saudi Arabiaprovince of Tabuk.
Bin Salman plans to turn the remote region on the northwest coast of the Red Sea into a high-tech transportation hub the size of Belgium, teeming with robots and artificial intelligence, as part of an effort to rid the country of dependence on oil and ease social restrictions.
On Monday, Manhattan bankers and investors received an invitation from the prince to a meeting in April to raise funding for a project that will consist of three artificial cities and a ski resort Bin Salman has dubbed “Neom.”
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has turned to Wall Street to help fund his latest extravagant megaproject, a $500 billion futuristic city-state powered by robots and artificial intelligence that will cover 10,000 square miles of Saudi Arabia’s Tabuk province. .
“Explore and discuss the significant market opportunities that Neom represents and discuss how we can support your business plans through meaningful partnerships and investment opportunities,” the Saudi subpoena reads, according to a copy viewed Bloomberg.
Invitations to assess interest in the initiative, announced by the prince in 2017, have been sent out to well-known investment firms, bankers and building materials suppliers in the city’s financial sector, the publication reports.
The project, estimated to cost half a trillion US dollars, involves the construction of a car-free city of more than 100 miles, built in a straight line, an eight-sided city that floats with the flow. on the Red Sea, a city named after the prince and a ski resort with its own village and a man-made lake.
Plans for the project reportedly include flying taxi drones, a Jurassic Park-themed amusement park, and a giant artificial moon that lights up every night.
The event is potentially one in a series of planned gatherings by Bin Selman in several U.S. cities as he hopes to fund the event, which the prince says will be powered by futuristic technology and artificial intelligence that will see the area near the Suez Canal. converted into an industrial port hub.
Manhattan’s bankers and investors received an invitation from the prince on Monday to a meeting to raise funding for a project that will consist of three artificial cities and a ski resort linked together by the Neom bookmark (pictured is an artistic depiction of the city). condition)
The planned event also follows a similar event in London last year, the source said.
According to Bloomberg, the invitation says executives will share details of Neom’s “unique urban design vision” for three synthetic cities and a ski resort planned to be powered by renewable energy.
However, more than four years after the venture was announced, his progress has largely stalled, stopping at excavating the ground where the man-made metropolis is supposed to stand.
The planned destination is just one of many Vision 2030 programs implemented by bin Selman to overhaul the oil-rich country’s economy through rich investment and diversification away from crude oil, as well as removing long-standing social restrictions associated with the kingdom. .
Plans for Neom, a $500 billion, 10,000-square-mile high-tech project, reportedly include flying drone taxis, a Jurassic Park-themed amusement park, and a giant artificial moon that glows every night.
Neom will rely on wind farms, solar energy and advanced technologies that turn water into oxygen and hydrogen for fuel.
Bin Salman’s attempt to secure Wall Street funding comes as the de facto leader of the Middle Eastern nation has drawn ire over Saudi military operations in Yemen and his own alleged connection to the killing of Washington Post journalist and Saudi government critic Jamal. Khashoggi in Turkey in 2018.
A U.S. intelligence report released last year said the prince approved an operation to “capture or kill” Khashoggi, who had been critical of Saudi Arabia’s policies in columns for the Post.
Saudi Arabian officials have since denied the allegations and dismissed the report’s findings.
Neom, the flagship project of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, is a planned $500 billion city-state that will cover 10,000 square miles of the northwestern part of the kingdom, close to its borders with Jordan and Egypt and the Red Sea. The picture shows one of the cities that will be part of the city-state – an octagonal port hub on the Red Sea called Oksagon.
One of the proposed structures, called Oxagon, is billed as an “integrated cognitive city” that will use robots and artificial intelligence and act as an industrial port hub for the country’s newest region in the northwest.
Following Khashoggi’s murder, several prominent figures left Neom’s advisory board.
The kingdom’s reputation, like bin Salman’s, has undeniably suffered from these two incidents, potentially preventing the prince from getting funding for his lavish projects.
The crackdown on dissent displayed by civil rights activists in the country in 2020 has further alarmed global firms and potential partners as the kingdom comes under even greater international scrutiny.
The April meeting looks like the prince’s latest attempt to raise funds for his wealthy Vision campaign while restoring the country’s tarnished image.
According to Bloomberg, the invitation says executives will share details on Neom’s “unique urban design vision” for three synthetic cities (pictured) and a ski resort, all planned to use renewable energy.
In December, bin Salman announced his plans for Jeddah Central, a $20 billion development project in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia’s second-largest city, that demolished homes, mosques and entire neighborhoods, angering 4.5 million residents and onlookers. Abroad.
Many accuse the country of recklessly pursuing an ambitious project at an astronomical cost, while completely ignoring the human cost of such endeavors.
Another recent example is the regime’s unprecedented 15% tax hike, up from 5% in July 2020.
The Neom project seems to meet these requirements so far, and there is no clear end to the project yet.
Neom officials say they intend to complete the first part of the futuristic city-state by 2025.
Officials say it will be a zero-emissions city powered entirely by clean energy, but have yet to reveal how much that will cost or how they will build the world’s largest floating structure.