Saudi Arabia to scale back flagship NEOM project: report
The New Arab1 day
Saudi Arabia Scales Back Ambitious NEOM Megaproject
Is Saudi Arabia leading global industrial transformation or is NEOM's vision collapsing under reality?
Above: An artist illustration model of NEOM Line city in Saudi Arabia in Riyadh on Oct. 30, 2024. Image credit: Fayez Nureldine/AFP/Getty Images
The Spin
Pro-government narrative
Despite scaling back NEOM, Saudi Arabia’s industrial transformation continues to accelerate through targeted partnerships and applied innovation. Collaboration with the World Economic Forum signals ambition to shape globally scalable industrial models, while NEOM’s Oxagon has positioned the Lighthouse Operating System as a national benchmark for smart manufacturing. The focus is shifting from spectacle to execution, embedding industrial capacity aligned with international standards rather than symbolic urban scale.
Government-critical narrative
NEOM’s dramatic scaling back exposes the hubris of petro-state megaproject fantasies. The Line is being cut from 170 kilometers to a token 2.4, Trojena can no longer host the 2029 Asian Winter Games, and the broader vision is buckling under trillion-dollar overruns, execution gaps, and basic economic reality. NEOM stands as a cautionary tale of spectacle-driven development, illustrating how oil wealth can magnify ambition and political will, but cannot override planning constraints, market logic, human scale, or long-term viability.
Metaculus Prediction
Establishment split
CRITICAL
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© 2026 Improve the News Foundation. All rights reserved.Version 6.18.0
© 2026 Improve the News Foundation.
All rights reserved.
Version 6.18.0