NEOM seeing ‘massive’ response from foreign investors, says CEO

Saudi Arabia's $500 billion NEOM is was attracting "overwhelming" interest from foreign investors, CNBC reported, citing its chief executive officer Klaus Kleinfeld.

"The investment case for NEOM is actually very easy to make, because we've got so many things going for us and the interest in partnering with Saudi Arabia in the creation of NEOM was overwhelming," he told an FDI panel discussion in Bahrain.

"We've had a huge amount of interest and we're talking to a lot of companies that are at the forefront of technologies wanting to partner with us and try out things in NEOM... On the technological side, a lot of people look at it as a place where they think they can try a lot of things out."

Kleinfeld revealed that key concepts for NEOM, such as mobility around the city, were still being explored and there "there are gazillions of players that are willing to help and willing to invest in that".

The project is estimated to take between 30 and 50 years to complete, but the first phase is due by 2025.

"And the $500 billion, we're not going to spend it all tomorrow and, quite frankly, a lot of it will come from private investments," Kleinfeld said.

The 26,500 square kilometre business zone will link Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan and is envisaged as a futuristic hub for both industry and citizens.