Saudi floats NEOM’s latest nauti-cool addition

Saudi Arabia has just floated its next NEOM project – an extravagant marina for 300 of the world’s largest superyachts

The kingdom has announced plans to expand its $1.5 trillion megacity with a futuristic waterfront resort on the Gulf of Aqaba coast.

Up to 6,000 residents will live in the purpose-built “cosmopolitan luxury community”, which according to NEOM’s creators will “serve the highest standards of future liveability”.

The resort, called Jaumur, will comprise 500 apartments and nearly 700 luxury villas with private mooring and “breathtaking views” of the Red Sea peninsula.

Its central promenade, lined with top-end shops and restaurants, will be used for live, year-round performances.

The resort will also have an international boarding school, staffed by a faculty of leading educators, to “prepare students for global achievement”.

A research institute will also be built to champion marine discovery and to establish NEOM as a “world-leading hub” for oceanographic exploration.

Two five-star hotels, meanwhile, will provide accommodation for visitors.

But Jaumur’s most striking feature will be a giant, 1.5km-long “aerofoil” canopy under which 300 superyachts measuring up to 150m (492ft) in length can be berthed.

In a statement, NEOM’s board of directors said: “NEOM is an accelerator of human progress and a vision of what a New Future might look like.

“It is a region in northwest Saudi Arabia on the Red Sea being built from the ground up as a living laboratory – a place where entrepreneurship will chart the course for this New Future. It will be a destination and a home for people who dream big and want to be part of building a new model for exceptional livability, creating thriving businesses and reinventing environmental conservation.

“This new addition promises a unique blend of experiences on both land and sea, complementing NEOM’s evolving regional development in northwest Saudi Arabia.”