Saudi Arabia has invited hundreds of banking officials from around the world to secure funding for the future new city 'NEOM City,' Bloomberg reported on the 22nd (local time).
According to sources, Nadmi Al-Nasr, CEO of NEOM, is inviting hundreds of key banking figures from various countries and several senior government officials this week to privately showcase the NEOM City construction site. They plan to present the construction site of 'The Line,' the core section of NEOM City, which is a linear city. In addition, according to sources, tours of the luxurious artificial island 'Shindala' and the cutting-edge industrial zone 'Oxagon' within NEOM City are also scheduled.
NEOM City is Saudi Arabia's mega project to build a new city 44 times the size of Seoul in the desert and mountainous areas adjacent to the Red Sea. This project, a key initiative of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, is estimated to require about $1.5 trillion (approximately 2,070 trillion KRW).
Until now, NEOM City has mainly held virtual briefings in cities such as London and New York. Sources explained that this time they aim to increase attention by revealing the actual site. Although banking officials have been invited in the past, this is the first event to invite hundreds of them.
Bloomberg recently reported that Saudi authorities are in a situation where they need to seek funding as they have scaled down the medium- and short-term goals related to NEOM City. Most of the funds for NEOM City construction have been raised in the form of equity investments by the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), led by Crown Prince bin Salman.
Originally, the Saudi government aimed for 1.5 million residents in The Line by 2030, but now the target population has been reduced to less than 300,000.
Sources said that some foreign banks are hesitant to provide large-scale loans because Saudi Arabia has not yet provided government guarantees for NEOM City.
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