New facility installed as Neom development in full swing

As Saudi Arabia is seeking to diversify the country's economy with an advanced Neom megacity under the vision of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, a biometric technology in the city’s airport has been installed for passengers for contactless travelling.

The Neom City project was launched under the leadership of the 38-year-old ruler of Saudi Arabia in 2017 who aims to digitally transform the country with the programme Saudi Vision 2030.

The $1.5 trillion megacity is one component of the ambitious plan in which urbanisation would be carried out on modern technological grounds while keeping in view sustainability. 

The project is also aimed at reducing the country’s dependence on oil revenues.

The recent electronic Gate (e-Gate) installation was successfully carried out with the collaboration among the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA), Jawazat and other governmental departments.

It was an important step to install a contactless system for passengers at the Neom City Airport, enabling tourists to experience smooth services.

Last month, reports emerged that the Saudi government is rolling back the Red Sea coast mega city projects, triggering a response from the country that the projects would be executed as planned.

Bloomberg reported that the Saudi government’s original plan to have 1.5 million people living in The Line by 2030 was slashed to 300,000.

Recently, Saudi Economy Minister Faisal Al Ibrahim told CNBC that for all NEOM projects, "the intended scale is continuing as planned."

"We set out to do something unprecedented and we’re doing something unprecedented, and we will deliver something that’s unprecedented."