By Nayera Abdallah and Pesha Magid
DUBAI/RIYADH (Reuters) -Nadhmi al-Nasr, the long-time chief executive of the $500 billion Saudi development project NEOM launched by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has departed, NEOM said on Tuesday without giving a reason.
Crown Prince Mohammed, known as MbS, has poured hundreds of billions of dollars into development projects through the kingdom’s PIF sovereign wealth fund.
The Red Sea mega-project, an urban and industrial development nearly the size of Belgium due to house nearly nine million people, is central to the prince’s Vision 2030 plan, which aims to diversify the economy away from oil.
But some of the schemes have had to be scaled back due to rising costs, including The Line, a futuristic city between mirrored walls extending 170 km (106 miles) into the desert within NEOM.
Reuters reported in May that the $925 billion PIF was weighing a reorganisation, aiming to sharpen its focus on investments that have a higher chance of success.
Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter, is still heavily reliant on hydrocarbon revenues, and low oil prices and production have hit state coffers.
Aiman al-Mudaifer was named as acting CEO. He has been the head of the Local Real Estate Division at PIF since 2018 and has a deep understanding of NEOM and its projects, NEOM said.
“As NEOM enters a new phase of delivery, this new leadership will ensure operational continuity, agility and efficiency to match the overall vision and objectives of the project,” it said.
In his role at PIF, al-Mudaifer oversees all local real estate investments and infrastructure projects, and he is a board member of several prominent companies in the kingdom.
(Reporting by Nayera Abdallah and Pesha Magid. Writing by Maha El Dahan. Editing by Kevin Liffey and Mark Potter)
Comments