Saudis Scale Back Ambition for $1.5 Trillion Desert Project Neom

Source: Bloomberg

Saudis Scale Back Ambition for $1.5 Trillion Desert Project Neom

Zainab Fattah and Matthew Martin
Fri, April 5, 2024 at 12:27 PM EDT·4 min read

(Bloomberg) -- Saudi Arabia has scaled back its medium-term ambitions for the desert development of Neom, the biggest project within Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s plans for diversifying the oil-dependent economy, according to people familiar with the matter.

By 2030, the government at one point hoped to have 1.5 million residents living in The Line, a sprawling, futuristic city it plans to contain within a pair of mirror-clad skyscrapers. Now, officials expect the development will house fewer than 300,000 residents by that time, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Officials have long said The Line would be built in stages and they expect it to ultimately cover a 170-kilometer stretch of desert along the coast. With the latest pullback, though, officials expect to have just 2.4 kilometers of the project completed by 2030, the person familiar with the matter said, who asked not to be named discussing non-public information.

As a result, at least one contractor has started to dismiss a portion of the workers it employs on the site, according to a document seen by Bloomberg.

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