The Virgin Hyperloop One Center of Excellence (CoE) project is expected to increase the Kingdom’s GDP by $4 billion by 2030 and create 124,000 high-tech local jobs if it gets approved, a study showed.

In July 2019, Virgin Hyperloop One (VHO) and the Saudi Economic City Authority signed an agreement to conduct a feasibility study to build a world-class Hyperloop Center of Excellence, which includes an extended test and certification track, a research and development center and a hyperloop manufacturing facility at King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC).

According to the study conducted by VHO and Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah Economic City shows that the project will support the expansion of transportation, development of urban infrastructure and growth of a technology enabled modern economy. If approved, it could break ground in 2020.

Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, Group Chairman and CEO of DP World and Chairman of Virgin Hyperloop One, said: “The study highlights that hyperloop is more than a high-speed connectivity for passengers and cargo. The findings have shown a positive alignment between the project and Saudi Arabia’s ambitious national economic and social development agenda.”

Dubai Port operator DP World is VHO’s largest investor.

Jay Walder, CEO of VHO said: “This strategic partnership in Saudi Arabia is a result of a shared ambition to harness the power of technology to drive the next leap forward in transportation. It’s a market that has shown a readiness to embrace transformative innovation to achieve the goal of sustainable, energy efficient travel that will have a huge impact on the economy and wider society.”

Ahmed Linjawy, group CEO of KAEC commented: “The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has set out a clear strategy for economic diversification and development through Vision 2030. Attracting world beating technology companies like VHO to our hub of innovation and industrial development at KAEC is an important indicator of the momentum behind our plans.”

(Reporting by Gerard Aoun, editing by Seban Scaria)

(gerard.aoun@refinitiv.com)

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