Saudi Arabia said on Tuesday it has been awarded the right to host 2029’s Asian Winter Games at a planned mountain resort within the Gulf Arab state’s $500 billion flagship NEOM project.
The TROJENA development is scheduled to be completed by 2026. It will feature the possibility of outdoor ski slopes, as well as a human-made freshwater lake as well as an area of nature conservation according to the development’s website.
“With the unlimited support by the Saudi leadership & HRH Crown Prince to the sport sector we are proud to announce we have won the bid to host AWG TROJENA2029 as the first country in west Asia,” Sports Minister Prince Abdulaziz Bin Turki Al-Faisal tweeted on Twitter.
NEOM is the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s most ambitious plan under his kingdom’s Vision 2030 development plan to reduce dependence on oil and improve the economy, in particular through the development of sports.
NEOM 26500 square kilometers (10,230-square-mile) high-tech project in the Red Sea, will include the city that is carbon-free “The Line” as well as logistics and industrial areas.
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“The deserts and mountains of Saudi Arabia will soon be a playground for winter sports,” the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) stated in a press release regarding the decision taken at its general assembly at Phnom Penh.
It was reported that the Saudi application is “unanimously approved”, the statement read, noting that the megacity, NEOM, NEOM would be the only West Asian city to host the event.
The first announcement was made in 2017. NEOM has repeatedly caused controversy over proposed innovations such as flying taxis and robotic maids as well when economists and architects have raised doubts about its viability.
The Asian Winter Games are slated to be held in Trojena, a region within NEOM “where winter temperatures drop below zero Celsius (32 Fahrenheit) and year-round temperatures are generally 10 degrees cooler than the rest of the region” According to the website for the project.
