News / Saudi Arabia

Riyadh awards contracts to build palaces in huge business zone: Report

Friday, 09 February 2018 11:35 AM [ Last Update: Friday, 09 February 2018 11:55 AM ]

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (Photo by AFP)

Saudi Arabia has reportedly begun to award contracts for the construction of five palaces for members of the royal family in a huge business zone in the northwest of the country amid a so-called anti-corruption campaign.

At an international conference last October, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman unveiled plans to build a new city and business zone, known as NEOM and dubbed a city of the future, which officials say will be backed up by more than $500 billion in investment, Reuter reported.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the sources said that the palaces for the king, crown prince and other senior royals, to be located on the Red Sea coast about 150 kilometers west of the city of Tabuk, are among the first contracts awarded for the mega city.

The construction giant Saudi Binladin Group has been mandated to build one of the palaces after some of its owners were targeted in bin Salman’s so-called anti-corruption purge, the sources said.

They said that banks have started offering financing facilities to builders of the palaces, but said they could not confirm the cost of the buildings.

According to officials, NEOM, with its own judicial system and legislation designed to attract international investors, is to focus on industries such as energy and water, biotechnology, food, advanced manufacturing and tourism.

Some companies, including Japan’s Softbank, have express their preparedness to invest in NEOM, but major, concrete business investments have not yet been announced.

Critics say the project is wasteful and ineffective in addressing the problems of the Saudi economy, including unemployment and dependence on oil.

The palaces add to the list of lavish spending by bin Salman, which his opponents say discredits his claims that he is fighting corruption.

PressTV-Riyadh may pocket over $100bn in ‘graft’ settlements

Saudi Arabia is likely to pocket over $100 billion in monetary settlements with princes and businessmen detained as part of a royal purge, a report says.

Back in November, Riyadh launched a crackdown on more than 200 of the richest Saudi princes, businessmen and government officials on the orders of Saudi Arabia’s so-called Anti-Corruption Committee headed by bin Salman.

The sweeping shakedown has netted some of the kingdom’s biggest tycoons, including billionaire investor Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, who had refused to invest in NEOM before his detention.

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