Contracts have been awarded to two national companies The contract allows the companies to operate the housing for 10 years RIYADH: Saudi authorities have started building accommodation in certain areas in NEOM that will house workers helping to build the new megacity. Contracts have been awarded to two national companies to build, finance and operate three residential complexes, in one of the first investment opportunities offered to construction companies to work on the NEOM project. Two Saudi companies, Al-Tamimi Group and Saudi Arabian Trading & Construction Co. (SATCO) won contracts for the construction of the complexes, with a capacity to house 30,000 workers. The contract allows the companies to operate the housing for 10 years. The areas will be part of a “Construction Village,” which NEOM plans to expand to accommodate more than 100,000 workers, the statement said. NEOM did not say how much the contracts were worth. “The awarding of these contracts is another milestone in our journey to turn the NEOM dream into a reality,” NEOM chief executive Nadhmi Al-Nasr said. A project of this scale “requires manpower to settle there for years to come,” Al-Nasr said. The $500 billion NEOM project will be developed over an area of 26,500 km2 in the north-west of the Kingdom. It aims to be one of the pillars of the Kingdom’s economic transformation.