TABUK — Nadhmi Al-Nasr, CEO of NEOM Company, said that the general plan and the phases of implementation and construction of the NEOM project will be announced within the coming two months. He said that the early phases of the project would focus on infrastructure development. In a statement to the Saudi Press Agency after attending the launching ceremony of the NEOM Academy on Sunday, he said: "The year 2020 will be the beginning of the actual momentum for dream NEOM projects, which will be a testament to the Saudis' determination to build a promising future for their country, and for this reason the NEOM Academy will be opened in the coming weeks." He said that in the first year, 1,000 students from the region would receive training in areas that support important sectors in NEOM such as energy, tourism, transport, hospitality and others. NEOM will strive to attract more male and female students until the target number of beneficiaries from the training program ending in employment reaching 6,000. He said that the announcement of the establishment of the academy is only part of the multiple programs aimed at social responsibility through which to provide suitable job opportunities in NEOM, suiting well to ambition and dreams of the people of the region and the local community. Al-Nasr said that NEOM is a long-term global project. "We have started, not long ago, developing the main strategies for implementation after planning, and 2020 is the year of implementation in NEOM, which means building in all different regions within the project," he said pointing out that NEOM needs partners to prepare minds and creating knowledge inside and outside the Kingdom. "The inauguration of the academy and the signing of many partnership agreements with the University of Tabuk and Prince Fahd Bin Sultan University, are only the beginning of the educational work, which is a partnership to prepare citizens and especially the people of Tabuk whom we depend to turn this dream into reality," he said, adding that the features of the new city will be unveiled to the world within three to five years after announcing the general plan of the project. The NEOM futuristic mega city, spreading over an area of 10,230 square miles in the northern region of Tabuk, is estimated to cost $500 billion. Phase one is due for completion in 2020 and the final phase is expected to be completed in 2025.
