Saudi Arabia's $500bn Neom City Project is on hold after Killing of Jamal Khashoggi

Associated Press/Virginia Mayo; Nicolas Asfouri - Pool/Getty

A recent killing of Saudi Journalist 'Jamal Khashoggi' has now affected on one of the biggest projects in Saudi Arabia 'Neom' worth $500bn is now in doubt as foreign investors are hesitant investing in it.

Finance Times, which published a report by Simon Kerr and Angie Rafal entitled "The killing of Khashoggi has slapped the Saudi Neom project".

The business delegation, which met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman recently, was surprised to hear about the $500 billion "Neom" project that would transform the shore into a future mall, the report said.

The report quoted a businessman who met Moh. bin Salman as saying that the latter had commented that "no one will invest at this stage in this project".

He added that the comments of the Saudi crown prince were a recognition that this crisis was caused by the repercussions of the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, noting that it threatens his plan to modernize the conservative kingdom with the support of foreign capital and experience.

Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced a project to establish a commercial and industrial investment zone on the north-west coast of the Red Sea named "Neom" in October.

The "Neom" project, one of the largest and most ambitious projects put forward by the Saudi Emir, has always been seen as having great risks, especially building a city using the latest technologies from robots to artificial intelligence, the report added.

The crisis caused by the killing of Khashoggi has overshadowed the Neomproject and has become an impediment to attracting capital and the high technology required for the project and the development of other projects, the report said.

"Certainly there are uncertainties surrounding the implementation of the Neum project," the report quoted one of the economists as saying.

Since the murder of Khashoggi, many of Neum's advisors have chosen to move away from the project, including architect Norman Foster, fearing for their personal reputations, as well as political pressures on those close to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Of course, Saudi Arabia's young crown prince had the vision to make Saudi Arabia as the hub of entertainment, tourism, tech & education but with the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi it may face achieving the objective of diversifying the economy away from oil. What do you think, share with us in the comments below.