The grand vision for Neom, Saudi Arabia’s $500 billion flagship smart city project, is facing a reality check as the kingdom’s government scales back its initial ambitious plans for the development.
According to a report from Bloomberg, Saudi officials have significantly reduced their estimates for the number of people expected to settle in the centerpiece of Neom, known as “The Line” – a planned 170-kilometer-long linear city featuring parallel skyscrapers up to 500 meters tall.
The new reports indicate that the targeted population for The Line has been slashed from 1.5 million residents by 2030 to fewer than 300,000. Additionally, the physical dimensions of the project have been dramatically reduced, with the length of the parallel towers cut down from 170 kilometers to just 2.4 kilometers.
These scaling-back measures come as Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund has yet to approve Neom’s budget for 2024, suggesting the financial realities of the mammoth project are starting to hit home for the kingdom’s leadership.
“The realities of the trillion-dollar investments in Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030 project, of which Neom is the centerpiece, were starting to cause alarm at the highest level of the Saudi government,” the Bloomberg report noted.
The pullback in Neom’s ambitions has even led at least one contractor working on the site to begin dismissing employees, according to a document reviewed by Bloomberg.
Saudi Arabia has remained steadfast in its commitment to Neom, which is intended to be the centerpiece of the country’s Vision 2030 plan to diversify its economy away from oil and gas. The kingdom has previously pledged at least $500 billion to the project and has sought out further investment to make it a reality.
However, experts have raised ethical concerns about Neom, with some worried the city could become a hub for sweeping surveillance programs, and others objecting to the strict rules around criticizing the project.
The scaling back of Neom’s ambitious plans suggests the sheer scale and complexity of the undertaking may be proving more challenging than initially anticipated. As Saudi officials grapple with the financial and logistical realities, the grand vision for this futuristic desert city appears to be undergoing a significant recalibration.
