Ryan Fayez: The private sector has a desire to invest in NEOM

“Although people see and interact with NEOM’s master plans, infrastructure and real estate, NEOM is not just a real estate development project. Real estate is a big part of the project, but NEOM is an exercise in building an economy,” said Ryan Fayez, NEOM’s deputy CEO.

On the sidelines of the second day of the Future Investment Initiative, through a session titled “How will financial institutions build a new mega-economic region?” Fayez added that 15 sectors have been identified and developed to be the economic drivers of NEOM. When we talk about the region, we talk about creating jobs, generating GDP, and diversifying the economy, which are the main pillars of Vision 2030.

Regarding the financing of the project, Fayez said: “When we look at financing, we are now at an exciting turning point in NEOM’s journey. There is debt financing across NEOM’s various projects, and with commercial assets becoming increasingly visible, there is a good desire from the private sector to participate in investing with us. The goal has always been for the government to start financing the infrastructure to open the way for the private sector to build on it, and not rely on government financing alone.”

“The physical infrastructure is just the hardware, what really sets NEOM apart is the software; the industries and technologies that will be built on that foundation. We are starting from where others have left off, and reinventing different categories of sectors and technologies to develop the city of the future,” Fayez explained. “Last week, we celebrated the opening of Sindalah, the first area to come to NEOM, but it is one of many that will come, and it is certainly not the largest, but it is one of the smallest. So, I see it as an appetizer for what is to come. NEOM’s ambition is not just to be within the Kingdom, but to go beyond the Kingdom’s borders and redefine quality of life through new models of living, redefining business with a globally competitive regulatory structure, attracting global talent and local capital, and redefining environmental conservation, with 95% of NEOM being a nature reserve. NEOM will rely entirely on renewable energy, whether wind or solar, to find a balance between people and nature.”