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What Is NEOM?
NEOM is the most ambitious — and most debated — construction project on the planet. Announced in 2017 by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as the centrepiece of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, it’s a planned $500 billion region in the country’s northwest, on the Red Sea coast near the Gulf of Aqaba. The name blends the Greek “neo” (new) with “mustaqbal,” the Arabic word for future. NEOM isn’t a single city but a collection of regions and developments — most famously The Line, a mirrored linear city originally planned to stretch 170 kilometres. As of late 2026, the project’s reality looks very different from its original renders, and understanding that gap is key to understanding NEOM.
The Regions of NEOM
NEOM comprises several distinct developments:
- The Line: The flagship — a 200-metre-wide, 500-metre-tall mirrored city planned to run 170 km from the mountains to the sea, housing a projected 9 million residents with no cars or streets. The most radical urban concept ever attempted.
- Trojena: A mountain tourism destination with a ski resort — yes, skiing in Saudi Arabia — planned around artificial snow in the Sarawat mountains.
- Oxagon: Planned as the world’s largest floating industrial complex, a port and logistics hub on the Red Sea.
- Sindalah: A luxury island resort in the Red Sea — the first NEOM region to actually open, welcoming guests from late 2024.
What Has Actually Been Built?
This is where the story gets complicated. By late 2026, reporting indicates that The Line’s construction — which involved massive excavation and foundation work — was paused around September 2025 pending a strategic review by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), which owns NEOM. Before the pause, roughly 2.4 kilometres of foundation work had been completed out of the planned 170 — about 1.4% of the total length. The mirrored cladding that defined the renders exists only in images so far.
In 2026, NEOM terminated several major contracts tied to The Line and Trojena — reportedly worth a combined $5 billion or more — and the PIF governor stated publicly that completing The Line by 2030 was “good to have, but not a must,” describing it as no longer the top priority. Population targets have been repeatedly cut: from 1.5 million residents by 2030, to 300,000, and reportedly as low as 100,000 in the near term. An internal audit leaked in 2025 reportedly put the cost of finishing The Line to its original specification at a staggering figure in the trillions, with completion stretching decades out. The PIF recorded an $8 billion write-down in 2025, with NEOM the largest contributor.
To be fair, PIF leadership insists no projects have been formally cancelled and that NEOM is being rescoped rather than abandoned. Sindalah is open, enabling works continue, and Saudi Arabia still presents NEOM as central to its long-term diversification. But the era of “170 km by 2030” is over.
The 2034 World Cup Connection
Saudi Arabia will host the 2034 FIFA World Cup — the first single-nation host of the expanded 48-team format — and NEOM was supposed to play a starring role. The planned NEOM Stadium, a 46,000-seat arena perched 350 metres above the ground inside The Line, was one of 15 proposed venues. In October 2026, Reuters reported that the stadium plans had been shelved indefinitely amid the delays and downscaling, with the construction database MEED listing it as on hold. Saudi authorities haven’t publicly removed it from the World Cup programme, but no replacement venue has been announced either. The episode captures NEOM’s current status: still officially alive, but visibly shrinking.
The Controversies
No honest explainer can skip the difficult parts:
- Displacement: The land was not empty. Members of the Howeitat tribe lived in the NEOM area, and those who resisted relocation were removed — one man who filmed his refusal was killed by security forces in 2020, drawing international condemnation.
- Costs and governance: Leaked reporting on the internal audit suggested financial projections relied on, in the auditors’ words, unrealistically rosy assumptions, with evidence of manipulated figures.
- Labour: Like all Gulf giga-projects, NEOM has faced scrutiny over migrant worker conditions, though Saudi labour reforms have changed some dynamics in recent years.
- Feasibility: Urban planners have questioned The Line’s basic concept from the start — a 170-km wall city creates extraordinary engineering, social and environmental challenges that no budget can fully solve.
Why NEOM Still Matters
Even scaled back, NEOM matters enormously — for Saudi Arabia’s economy, for the Gulf’s development model, and as a case study in the limits of top-down megaprojects. The Kingdom has been shifting investment toward projects with quicker returns (tourism destinations like the Red Sea Project, which is further along; sports and entertainment assets), while NEOM is redesigned into something deliverable. Whether the eventual result is a modest tech-and-tourism zone or something closer to the original vision, the next few years will decide.
Can You Visit NEOM?
Not really, not yet. Sindalah island is open to luxury travellers, and there are occasional media and investor visits to the construction areas. For most travellers, the accessible face of Saudi Arabia’s transformation is elsewhere for now — AlUla, Jeddah, Riyadh. Start with our Saudi tourist visa guide and Gulf News coverage, and watch this space: NEOM’s story is far from over.
