SEOUL — Nadhmi Al-Nasr, CEO of NEOM, said that a community has been established and schools have been opened in NEOM within the current phase of the project. He said that construction has begun throughout the project site. Addressing a press conference here on Monday, on the sidelines of the launching of an exhibition on NEOM in Seoul, Al-Nasr said that 60,000 people are residing and working on the site to build Neom. "The number of people living and working at the site will rise to 400,000 in the next year," he said while stressing that NEOM is a story that will last for 25 years. "When the first phase of the project is completed in 2030, we will show the world the realism and applicability of this project, and I believe that we can finance the project through that," he said. Al-Nasr stressed that South Korean companies will be able to obtain opportunities in the stages of investment, financing and partnership formation. "The project is expected to require huge funds, so companies all over the world, including South Korean companies, are looking for opportunities to win deals," he said. Al-Nasr is among 12 senior executives of NEOM who arrived in South Korea on the occasion of the launching of NEOM city exhibition. An exhibition illustrating the vision of NEOM kicked off at the Dongdaemun Design Plaza, an iconic cultural hub in Seoul, on Wednesday. This is the first NEOM exhibition to be held in Asia. The nine-day event, with the theme of "Discover NEOM: A New Future by Design" will run until Aug. 3. The exhibition showcases models and videos that contain the design philosophy and urban design of major projects such as The Line, Oksagon, Trogena, and Syndala that make up NEOM City.
