Orders for Neom City
Korean Minister of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport Won Hee-ryong met with Saudi Arabia’s Neom Company CEO Nadmi Al-Nasr for the second time, following a meeting in Saudi Arabia in November 2022, in an effort to help major Korean companies win large construction orders for Neom City.
According to MOLIT on July 24, Minister Won Hee-ryong held a closed-door meeting with CEO Nadmi Neom at a hotel in Seoul on July 23.
Neom City is a US$500-billion (about 640 trillion won) project to build a mammoth-sized new city on the eastern side of the Gulf of Aqaba between the Saudi Arabian Peninsula and Egypt.
Earlier this year, Samsung C&T signed a detailed memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Saudi sovereign wealth fund (PIF) on modular cooperation, paving the way for its entry into Neom City. Hyundai E&C also had its presence felt last month when it won a US$5 billion (6.4 trillion won) petrochemical plant construction project in the eastern province of Jubail for Saudi state oil company Aramco.
Won and Nadmi met for the first time in Saudi Arabia in November 2022. When Won reportedly said, “Samsung and Hyundai should be the main Korean players in the Neom City bids, but other Korean builders should follow them into the Neom Project.” Nadmi twice mentioned “Korean Builders First,” asking for active participation by other Korean companies.
In May, Saudi Minister of Transportation Saleh bin Nasser Al-Jasser led his country’s delegation to Korea. During a meeting with Won and Korean company officials, he said, “There will be more investment opportunities,” hinting at the possibility of Korean builders winning various large projects including those for Neom City.
Earlier in the day, Minister Won visited a Neom City exhibition at Seoul’s Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) on a private schedule, the first Neom City-related exhibition to be held in Asia. On July 25, CEO Nadmi will hold a separate press conference to reveal whether or not Korean companies will advance into the Middle East kingdom for the construction of Neom City.