Saudi Arabia has chosen the engineering firm that will design its $500BN Neom City

THE engineering firm set to design Saudi Arabia’s USD $500BN mega city has been announced.

Neom (meaning “New Future”) is a planned 26,500 square kilometre development on the coast of the Red Sea.

Billed as a futuristic tourist destination - complete with flying taxis, an artificial moon, AI technology and powered by renewable energy - the project has garnered a lot of press, with very little actual detail.

Neom is part of Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman’s plan to modernise the country as it prepares to move to a post-oil economy.

Above: The planned size and location and of Neom City (image courtesy of Neom).

American engineering firm Bechtel has been chosen to bring the prince's vision to life. It's charged with designing, building and project managing the construction of the entire city.

Bechtel joins several other major companies already signed on to the project, including Saudi telecom company STC and fellow American-based company Air Products.

Air Products will work with Saudi Acwa Power to develop the world’s largest green hydrogen and green ammonia plant for the city, expected to be operational by 2025.

Above: Skydivers with the Neom logo. Details of the project have been hard to come by, but that hasn't stopped the Saudi government heavily promoting the planned city (image courtesy of Neom).

It isn’t a surprise that the crown prince has chosen to work with Bechtel - the company has a long history of working with Saudi Arabia, dating back to the construction of the Trans-Arab Pipeline in 1947.

More recently they have built the Riyadh metro; the public transportation network for the country’s capital.

The development forms part of a massive slate of high profile construction projects the kingdom has planned.