Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH — Nadhmi Al-Nasr, the new CEO of Saudi Arabia’s mega-city project NEOM, is well-known for "turning visions into realities" and aims to serve as a catalyst for NEOM achieving its ambitious vision, according to industry insiders.

Al-Nasr replaces Klaus Kleinfeld who will take over "wider responsibilities" as an advisor to Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman, deputy premier and minister of defense, a statement said late Monday.

Kleinfeld was appointed NEOM's first CEO when the project was announced last October.

Al-Nasr, a member of NEOM's founding board and a veteran of state oil giant Saudi Aramco, will take over from Kleinfeld from Aug. 1, according to the statement.

Al-Nasr had worked on developing the strategy and development of NEOM Bay and will soon be responsible for further strategic development and business plans for NEOM’s core economic sectors.

Al-Nasr has over 30 years of experience with Saudi Aramco and most recently has been the interim president for the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology.

As part of that role, he held a wide range of responsibilities from developing strategy and business plans to leading major initiatives and projects.

The planned mega-city is a 26,500 sq. km zone, designed to attract international investors and to focus on industries such as energy and water, biotechnology, food, advanced manufacturing and tourism, according to officials.

The government has said NEOM will draw investments worth $500 billion from the Kingdom's vast Public Investment Fund, as well as local and international investors.

NEOM is the world’s first independent special zone stretching over three countries set to become a destination located in the northwestern region of Saudi Arabia.

The Kingdom has also announced plans to build a Walt Disney-style "entertainment city" known as Qiddiya and a reef-fringed resort destination in the Red Sea — both worth hundreds of billions of dollars.

Such projects are the brainchild of Prince Muhammad, architect of a sweeping reform program dubbed "Vision 2030".

The reforms stem partly from a motivation to boost domestic spending and attract foreign investment as the Kingdom has been reeling from an oil price slump since mid-2014.