It’s thought some 300,000 people will call the megacity home by 2030
She said the project’s demand for steel would mean they make up ’20 percent of the global steel market.’
Al Moneef added: “If you look at our demand in elevators, cement and so on… put simply, Neom is going to be the largest customer over the next few decades.”
According to the Observatory of Economic Complexities, in 2022 the top importers of iron and steel were the United States ($43.2b), China ($41.4b), Germany ($36b), Italy ($30.2b), and Turkey ($25.6b).
That same year, Saudi Arabia imported just 0.98 percent, or $5.53b worth, of iron and steel.
Neom is part of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman’s policy programme Vision 2030, to diversify Saudi Arabia’s economy, including reducing the kingdom’s economic dependency on oil. The whole Neom project is projected to take up 26,500 km2 (10,200 sq mi) of land.
View this post on Instagram
The revolutionary megacity has already received $28.7 billion, Bloombergreports, with the majority of that going towards the streamline city The Line.
Speaking in 2022 the Crown Prince, who is the de-facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, said: “We cannot ignore the liveability and environmental crises facing our world’s cities, and NEOM is at the forefront of delivering new and imaginative solutions to address these issues.”
He had originally planned to host nine million people in the city by 2030, but Bloomberg has reported that this estimate has been scaled back and just 300,000 people are currently set to live there by then.
