Saudi Arabia $500bn mega-project faces review

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Saudi Arabia $500bn mega-project faces review
الثلاثاء 29 إبريل, 2025

Andrew England - London Ahmed Al Omran - Jeddah. The Financial Times.

The acting chief executive of Saudi Arabia's Neom has launched a "comprehensive review" of the scope and priority of projects within Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's flag-ship scheme, two people familiar with the matter said.

Aiman al-Mudaifer was appointed acting chief executive in November following the abrupt departure of Nadhmi al-Nasr, who led the $500bn mega-project for six years but faced increasing scrutiny over his management style and pressure to deliver results.

One of the people familiar with the matter said the main projects at Neom were "in general going on", but added e that some were being "reviewed in terms of their scope".

Some tourism developments on the Red Sea where work had not yet started s had been delayed, the person added.

The review "is taking place in an environment of limited resources", the person said. "Some things were done that need to be looked at again."

The "gigaproject", which officials describe as the world's biggest construction site, covers a vast area of desert and mountains along the Red Sea, stretching up to the borders of Jordan and Egypt.

It includes multiple developments, including a futuristic linear city called The Line, which is ultimately supposed to run 170km; a coastal logistics and industrial zone known as Oxagon; and a ski resort called Trojena that is set to host the Asian Winter Games in 2029.

Nasr, a former executive at the state oil company Saudi Aramco, joined Neom after establishing a reputation for overseeing state infrastructure projects.

But Neom has struggled with projects running over budget and timelines, and drawn scepticism from inside and out-side the kingdom since its launch in 2017. Saudi officials counter sceptics by saying Neom is a 50-plus year project.

The review comes as Riyadh recalibrates its spending priorities after almost a decade of frenetic activity as oil prices drop and the government seeks to manage the vast scale of projects as part of Prince Mohammed's Vision 2030 programme to develop the kingdom.

A second person said the review was being conducted to "decide what to double down on". The person said: "There's huge pressure on Neom to deliver because it's seen as totemic - it's inex-tricably linked to Vision 2030."

Neom did not respond to a request for comment.

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