SAUDI ARABIA's high-tech 'Neom' mega-project plans to expand a tiny local port into a giant trade and manufacturing hub, reports Bloomberg.
Neom is a planned cross-border city in the Tabuk Province of northwestern saudi Arabia on the Gulf of Aqaba, north of the Red Sea, east of Egypt across the Strait of Tiran, and south of Israel and Jordan.
The proposal is the latest eye-catching announcement by Neom, with progress on the ground so far limited to earthworks. About 12 per cent of global trade flows through the Suez Canal.
The port will anchor an industrial city that Neom announced recently called Oxagon, said Oxagon CEO Vishal Wanchoo.
An existing port near the Red Sea town of Dhiba will be transformed to handle a container capacity of 3.5 million to four million TEU by 2030, said Mr Wanchoo.
The project could eventually serve Neom's commercial tenants as well as the broader Gulf region, Jordan and Iraq, he said. Capacity might extend up to nine million TEU depending on Oxagon's growth, he added. Dubai's Jebel Ali port, the region's largest, has capacity of more than 19 million TEU.
'We will develop a state-of-the-art port and supply chain system and we have a real advantage because we're starting as a greenfield,' said Mr Wanchoo, a former GE executive who joined Neom this year.
Announced in 2017, Neom is the crown jewel of Prince Mohammed bin Salman's programme to overhaul the economy of the world's largest oil exporter. His plan to turn the remote region on the kingdom's northwest coast into a robot-driven tech hub encapsulates the major elements of his so-called 'Vision 2030' to diversify away from crude, loosen social restrictions and boost investment.
But the project has stirred controversy, including skepticism about its feasibility after some previous efforts to build economic free zones struggled to take off.
Oxagon - which officials say will eventually include a complex that 'floats' on the sea - illustrates those ambitions and challenges.
The 19-square-mile area is expected to house 80,000 to 90,000 residents and 40 to 50 companies by 2030, Mr Wanchoo said. He did not disclose planned spending on the project, which combines government and private-sector investment.
SeaNews Turkey
Neom is a planned cross-border city in the Tabuk Province of northwestern saudi Arabia on the Gulf of Aqaba, north of the Red Sea, east of Egypt across the Strait of Tiran, and south of Israel and Jordan.
The proposal is the latest eye-catching announcement by Neom, with progress on the ground so far limited to earthworks. About 12 per cent of global trade flows through the Suez Canal.
The port will anchor an industrial city that Neom announced recently called Oxagon, said Oxagon CEO Vishal Wanchoo.
An existing port near the Red Sea town of Dhiba will be transformed to handle a container capacity of 3.5 million to four million TEU by 2030, said Mr Wanchoo.
The project could eventually serve Neom's commercial tenants as well as the broader Gulf region, Jordan and Iraq, he said. Capacity might extend up to nine million TEU depending on Oxagon's growth, he added. Dubai's Jebel Ali port, the region's largest, has capacity of more than 19 million TEU.
'We will develop a state-of-the-art port and supply chain system and we have a real advantage because we're starting as a greenfield,' said Mr Wanchoo, a former GE executive who joined Neom this year.
Announced in 2017, Neom is the crown jewel of Prince Mohammed bin Salman's programme to overhaul the economy of the world's largest oil exporter. His plan to turn the remote region on the kingdom's northwest coast into a robot-driven tech hub encapsulates the major elements of his so-called 'Vision 2030' to diversify away from crude, loosen social restrictions and boost investment.
But the project has stirred controversy, including skepticism about its feasibility after some previous efforts to build economic free zones struggled to take off.
Oxagon - which officials say will eventually include a complex that 'floats' on the sea - illustrates those ambitions and challenges.
The 19-square-mile area is expected to house 80,000 to 90,000 residents and 40 to 50 companies by 2030, Mr Wanchoo said. He did not disclose planned spending on the project, which combines government and private-sector investment.
SeaNews Turkey
