Saudi Construction Projects "Might Get Scaled Down"

Saudi Arabia has seemingly scaled back plans for its vast desert development project Neom, the centerpiece of Vision 2030, a program led by Prince Mohammed, the Gulf state’s de-facto ruler, to transition the country’s economy away from oil dependency, Sameer Hashmi reported for BBC News.

Neom is a $500-billion (£394-billion) plan to build 10 futuristic cities in the desert. I Photo: NEOM

Saudi Arabia is also developing 13 other large construction schemes, or “giga projects” as they are referred to, worth trillions of dollars.

These include an entertainment city on the outskirts of the capital Riyadh, multiple luxury island resorts on the Red Sea, and a cluster of other tourist and cultural destinations.

An advisor, who is associated with the government but wished not to be named, tells the BBC that the projects are being reviewed, with a decision expected soon.

“The decision will be based on multiple factors,” he says. “But there is no doubt that there will be a recalibration. Some projects will proceed as planned, but some might get delayed or scaled down.”

Neom is a $500-billion (£394-billion) plan to build 10 futuristic cities in the desert.

The most ambitious of them, and the one that has gained all the headlines, is The Line. This will be a linear city consisting of two adjoined, parallel skyscraper walls standing 500 meters high - taller than the Empire State Building.

The original plan was that they would extend for 170 km (105 miles), and become home to nine million inhabitants. But the project developers will now focus on completing just 2.4 km by 2030, as part of the first module.