The Kingdom has planned to build a mountain resort as part of a pharaonic project of 500 billion dollars. To discover in video.
Saudi Arabia won the bid to host the 2029 Asian Winter Games on Tuesday, the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) said in a statement reporting the unanimous decision at its general assembly in Phnom Penh. (Cambodia). “Saudi Arabia’s deserts and mountains will soon be a playground for winter sports“, rejoiced the OCA.
An organization that will take place in a futuristic megalopolis under construction in the northwest of the kingdom, in the region where the mountains rise between 800 and 3000 meters. A station is indeed planned in the flagship project of the Gulf Arab state, NEOM, at a cost of 500 billion dollars. A project that should be completed in 2026.
«With the unlimited support of the sports sector from the Saudi leadership and HRH the Crown Prince, we are proud to announce that we have won the bid to host AWG TROJENA2029 as the first country in West AsiaSports Minister Prince Abdulaziz Bin Turki Al-Faisal said on Twitter.
Located on the shores of the Red Sea, the Neom project has been talked about a lot since the first announcement made in 2017. Architects and economists have even questioned its feasibility. It is Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s most ambitious project under the kingdom’s Vision 2030 development plan to reduce oil dependence and transform the economy, including by developing sports.
In Trojena, temperatures drop below zero degrees in winter
This 26,500 km2 high-tech project on the Red Sea will include a zero-carbon city, “The Line», as well as industrial and logistics zones. The Asian Winter Games should precisely take place in Trojena, a mountainous sector of Neom “where temperatures drop below zero degrees in winter and temperatures throughout the year are generally 10 degrees lowerby the sea, say the promoters on their website, without mentioning the question of precipitation.
Trojena will include year-round ski slopes, an artificial freshwater lake, chalets, mansions and luxury hotels, according to the same source. Mohammed bin Salman holds the position of chairman of Neom’s board of directors. De facto ruler of the kingdom, he promised with this project to “redefining mountain tourism worldwide», while respecting the principles of eco-tourism.
Neom director Nadhmi al-Nasr, for his part, claimed that Trojena would be staffed “adequate infrastructure to create a winter atmosphere in the heart of the desert, and to make these Winter Games an unprecedented global event».
Saudi Arabia hopes to eventually organize the Olympic Games.
The Asian Winter Games include competitions in skiing, snowboarding, ice hockey and figure skating, totaling 47 events, including 28 on snow and 19 on ice, according to the OCA. “I never believed that I would ski (one day) in my countrySaid Saudi alpine skier Fayik Abdile on Tuesday, quoted in the organization’s press release.
Sporting events have multiplied in recent years in Saudi Arabia, accused by NGOs of wanting to divert attention from human rights abuses in the kingdom. In an interview with AFP, the Saudi Minister of Sports, Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al-Faisal, recently mentioned his country’s desire to organize one day the Olympic Games.
An Egyptian official told him last month that Egypt, Greece and Saudi Arabia had started discussions on a possible joint bid for the FIFA World Cup in 2030.
SEE ALSO – Messi’s first free kick with PSG during Paris-Nice on October 1 (2-1)
