Crown Prince MBS’s futuristic Neom City is turning into a paradox. If images are worth a thousand words, then Neom’s Chief Operating Officer, Giles Pendleton, has written an essay on its advancing existence. The $1.5 trillion project, expected to reach its “end-state” by 2080 at a staggering $8.8 trillion, more than 25 times Saudi Arabia’s annual budget, according to the WSJ, is not falling behind.
The COO of Neom shared a series of photographs showcasing the progress of the Neom infrastructure projects, from the water pipeline and completion of new camps to the rapid construction work at Oxagon Harbor. In his own words, ‘All are going well and show things from a very different viewpoint from the air.’
These photographs reveal concrete work in action, dozens of heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) and cranes moving natural material, and more than 60 onshore wind turbines at The Line. In one of the images, the officer revealed an accommodation area featuring massive, empty parking lots with the Gulf of Aqaba in the near distance. While the exact nature of the work may not be fully discernible yet, the tone remains positive and full of hope, as it has always been.
However, there is a great deal of conjecture everywhere else regarding the $500 billion sci-fi-inspired dream of the Saudi Crown Prince. Neom City is the culmination of ambitious projects, from the arid-mountain ski resort Trojena to the floating business district Oxagon (Neom Port), the leisure island Sindalah, which is already up and running, and The Line, the audacious 106-mile-long pair of horizontal skyscrapers.
While Sindalah is the only completed project so far, the broader reality looks increasingly bleak, with soaring costs, delays, and growing accusations casting long shadows over the dream.
