RIYADH: Nearly 20 percent of infrastructure works at NEOM, Saudi Arabia’s $500 billion megacity, have been completed, according to a top official.

Nadhmi Al-Nasr, NEOM’s CEO, said that works are progressing in the futuristic city as per schedule in an interview with Al Arabiya TV.

The project is set to run on 100 percent renewable energy when completed, and will encompass several megaprojects.

To showcase the works, NEOM released a video earlier this week which shows the rapid progress being made on the project.

The video includes real-world footage of the large-scale constructions across NEOM regions which includes The Line, Trojena, OXAGON, and the luxury island development project Sindalah.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman launched the Sindalah Island project, which will extend over an area of approximately 840,000 sq. m and the island will act as a main gateway to the Red Sea for guests from early 2024.

The video sets out the key achievements made in 2022, including the launch of Tonomus, the first company to be established as a full-fledged subsidiary of NEOM that will integrate artificial intelligence technology in the buildings of the mega project.

The three-minute clip also shows construction workers being deployed to lay the foundations for the megaproject.

“A project unique in scale, already being built in a place with 95 percent of the land protected for nature where rewilding is in motion, bringing animals back to their natural habitat,” the clip said.

The video also portrayed the works which are currently underway in Trojena, the mountain destination which will host the 2029 Asian Winter Games.

In December, during an exclusive interview with Arab News, Peter Fitzhardinge, head of Tourism Marketing at NEOM, said that the 2029 Asian winter games at Trojena will showcase how NEOM will use innovation to carry out the event in a meticulous manner.

“NEOM is all about innovation. I think now, not only we have to launch Trojena to show the vision, but we have to also showcase how we can bring Asian winter games into reality for people to come and participate in winter sports in NEOM,” said Fitzhardinge.

While speaking to Arab News at the World Travel and Tourism Council Global Summit in Riyadh on Nov. 30 Al-Nasr had noted that OXAGON also has all the potential to become a world-class tourist destination, where visitors can come and see how the future will be.

“It is in OXAGON where all industries will be, and it is the port of NEOM. Yet, we would like to see tourists spending a day or two in OXAGON. They will see the future of industries in OXAGON.

Everything in NEOM is built for the future era. We want them to come and see how future sea ports will operate,” said Al-Nasr.

Another subsidiary that was launched in 2022 was Enowa, responsible for managing NEOM’S sustainable energy and water systems. Enowa will also have the world’s largest green hydrogen plant which will catalyze NEOM’s sustainability journey.

“At NEOM, we are addressing some of the most pressing challenges facing humanity by bringing together a community of the brightest minds committed to reimagining what a sustainable future will look like in 20 to 30 years, and building it today.

We are redefining the future now. NEOM is open for business,” Al-Nasr said in a separate statement.

It also highlighted NEOM’s $175 million investment in “Volocopter, the next generation of transport.”

“It’s why athletes from 25 countries participated in the NEOM Beach Games and it’s why the planet’s fastest growing lifestyle brand, Ennismore, has become the first hotel partner for Trojena,” said the narrator in the video.

Saudi Arabia’s national

carrier Saudia now also offers direct flights to NEOM from London and Dubai.

Source: Arab news

SET-listed developer Supalai Plc plans to launch 37 new residential projects nationwide worth a combined 41 billion baht, the largest figures for both since its establishment, of which more than half would be in the provinces.

Chairman Prateep Tangmatitham said economic growth would continue this year with a strong momentum in terms of the tourism recovery which would drive higher income and increasing employment nationwide.

“When weighed with negative factors such as rising costs, higher interest rates and inflation, GDP growth will drive the economic outlook in a positive way,” he said.

Despite the negative factors, the property measures with a cut of the mortgage fee from 1% to 0.01% remaining and a cut of transfer fee from 2% to 1% which changed from 2% to 0.01% for units priced three million baht and lower would help buoy housing demand.

The company will launch 17 new projects in Greater Bangkok, comprising 14 low-rise housing projects and three condo projects.

The remaining 20 projects will be low-rise housing projects in the provinces.

In the second half, it will launch S Avenue — a community mall and market — on a 25-rai plot in Rayong’s Ban Khai district, which will be its first retail project.

In this location, Supalai had over 200 rai of land for property development.

In the past two years, it launched two residential projects and recorded more than 200 units sold.

It also sold a 20-rai plot to Singaporean International School (SISB).

“We can expand housing development in many provinces nationwide because we have a provincial home buyer insight, for example, using tiles instead of laminate wood for houses in southern provinces where there is frequently rainy weather for easy cleaning,” said Mr Prateep.

Mr Prateep said the company aims to have 36 billion baht in presales and revenue by the end of 2023.

Last year it recorded 32.4 billion baht in presales, a jump of 35% from 24 billion baht in 2021 and higher than its target of 28 billion baht.

Besides S Avenue, It will add new recurring income businesses this year from the rental office at the mixed-use project Supalai Icon Sathorn, a serviced condo in Hua Hin and at Supalai Icon Sathorn and a co-working space at its headquarters.

In Australia, the firm invested 9.75 billion baht over the past decade to develop 12 residential projects worth 52.6 billion baht and would continue investment this year.

Source: Bangkok Post

NEW DELHI : Apple Inc wants India to account for up to 25 per cent of its production from about 5 per cent-7 per cent now, the trade minister told a conference on Monday, as the iPhone maker continues to move its manufacturing away from China.

“Apple, another success story,” Piyush Goyal said, pitching India as a competitive manufacturing destination. “They are already at about 5-7 per cent of their manufacturing in India.

If I am not mistaken, they are targeting to go up to 25 per cent of their manufacturing. They launched the most recent models from India, manufactured in India.”

Goyal did not say when Apple wants to meet the target.

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Cupertino, California-based Apple has bet big on India since it began iPhone assembly in the country in 2017 via Wistron and later with Foxconn, in line with the Indian government’s push for local manufacturing.

Foxconn plans to quadruple the workforce at its iPhone factory in India over two years, sources told Reuters late last year.

Ashwini Vaishnaw, Indian’s electronics and information technology minister, tweeted on Monday that Apple’s exports from India had hit $1 billion in December.

China’s COVID-related lockdowns and restrictions, and rising trade and geopolitical tensions between Beijing and Washington, have influenced Apple’s plans to shift production elsewhere.

J.P.Morgan analysts estimated last year that a quarter of all Apple products would be made outside China by 2025, from 5 per cent currently.

Source: Reuters