A brand new WSJ report means that Saudi Arabia’s now eight-year-old Neom mission — a futuristic, carbon-neutral, 105-mile-long linear metropolis envisioned by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman — has change into a monetary sinkhole.
Tormented by delays and value overruns, the nation, which has already shelled out $50 billion, may reportedly face one other 55 years of building, with an astonishing projected price of $8.8 trillion, in accordance with an inner audit introduced to Neom’s board final summer time. That’s greater than 25 occasions Saudi Arabia’s annual price range, notes the Journal.
The state of affairs is beginning to resemble Saudi Arabia’s personal Waterloo, with MBS misjudging the monumental challenges inherent in his technique, very like Napoleon did earlier than him. Among the many harsh realities threatening to derail the mission are inadequate labor, insufficient roads, and a scarcity of electrical energy.
There are some winners, nevertheless. Consulting large McKinsey & Firm is reportedly incomes greater than $130 million yearly for its providers, regardless of some controversy encompass its position, given the agency’s involvement in each the planning and validation of a few of the mission’s monetary projections, per the story. A McKinsey spokesman tells the WSJ the agency has “strict protocols to forestall conflicts of curiosity in our engagements.”
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