Saudi Arabia consumes 20% of the world’s steel for their megaproject called Neom, one of the largest construction sites in the world located in northwest Saudi Arabia, the area measuring 10,200 square miles
Planned to be a smart city 105 miles long, lined by two 17 story walls that stretch the length of the city, more than 100 miles. Neom has no streets or cars and has a capacity to house over nine million people, also adding attractions like a winter resort called Trojena, 12 luxury resorts called Magna, and an industrial city named Oxagon.
Neom’s chief investment officer Manar Al Moneef spoke at a global Logistics Forum in Riyadh and said “Neom is going to be the largest customer [in logistics] over the next decade. If you look at our demand in logistics, it’s five percent of the global logistics market. We are 20 percent of the global steel market. If you look at our demand for elevators, cement and so on … Put simply, Neom is going to be the world’s largest customer over the next few decades.”
A steel industry consultant and chief executive of steel industry news, Dr Andrzej Kotas shared his thoughts about the megaproject saying “I can’t think of any projects that come anywhere near that. You sometimes have some very large transnational oil and gas pipelines, but nothing comes close to 20 percent of the world’s consumption.”
Saudi Arabia has no steel production facilities so must purchase the steel from overseas. The project leaders hope to complete the structure by 2045, though they plan to be done with a 5km central area by the end of the decade.