Saudi Arabia replaces CEO of NEOM mega city project

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia has replaced the CEO of its NEOM mega city project less than a year after the unveiling of the US$500 billion (RM2.01 trillion) venture billed as a regional Silicon Valley.

Klaus Kleinfeld, appointed NEOM’s first CEO when the project was announced last October, will take over “wider responsibilities” as an adviser to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, a statement said late Monday.

Nadhmi al-Nasr, a member of NEOM’s founding board and a veteran of state oil giant Saudi Aramco, will take over from Kleinfeld from Aug 1, the statement added.

NEOM, part of a series of multi-billion-dollar projects as the oil-reliant kingdom seeks to diversify, was announced with much fanfare in October at Riyadh’s first Future Investment Initiative that sought to project the country as a business destination.

The Saudi government has said NEOM will draw investments worth US$500 billion from the kingdom’s vast Public Investment Fund, as well as local and international investors.

Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter, has dazzled investors with a host of hitech “giga projects”, but sceptics question their viability as the kingdom scrambles to diversify its economy in an era of cheaper oil. It has also announced plans to build a Walt Disney-style “entertainment city” known as Qiddiya and a reeffringed resort destination in the Red Sea. – Reuters