On November 12, at the Cityscape real estate show in Saudi Arabia, Tarek Qaddumi, executive director of The Line Design Group, denied the rumors. According to him, The Line, the futuristic city project championed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, known as "MBS," and flagship of the kingdom's Vision 2030 transformation plan, would live up to its ambitions.

At the heart of NEOM – a territory the size of Belgium located in the arid desert of northwestern Saudi Arabia, at the mouth of the Gulf of Aqaba – there will indeed be, according to Qaddumi, a pair of mirrored skyscrapers stretching 174 kilometers long, 200 meters wide and 500 meters high, designed to accommodate nine million residents. This vertical, sustainable, car-free city will be a place where the kingdom's strictest laws will not apply. A ski resort, Trojena, is set to host the 2029 Asian Winter Games, and the luxury Red Sea resort of Sindalah was inaugurated in October.

On stage, architects and planners spoke of some of the challenges they face in bringing this imaginative and unprecedented city to life. While the project, conceived by Hollywood designers, seems difficult to bring to fruition, they said it's not impossible. Yet as the Cityscape presentation continued, NEOM issued a statement announcing the resignation of Nadhmi Al-Nasr, its CEO since 2018.

This marks a further setback for a project plagued by delays, cost overruns and staff resignations. When MBS unveiled the plan in 2022, the first phase aimed to house one million residents by 2030 over 16 kilometers, eventually reaching nine million by 2045. The total cost was estimated at $500 billion (€475 billion). Two years later, as President Emmanuel Macron visits the country through December 4, there is now talk of building only 2.5 kilometers by 2030 and accommodating 300,000 inhabitants, according to Bloomberg, which reports that the budget has been cut by 20% in 2024. Some companies have started laying off workers to scale back operations.

The emblematic megaproject isn't the only Vision 2030 initiative to face delays and downsizing. New Murabba, a cube-shaped skyscraper large enough to house 20 Empire State Buildings, could also be subject to budget cuts. In December 2023, Saudi Finance Minister Mohammed Al-Jadaan admitted that some megaprojects would not meet their schedules. "The delay or rather the extension of some projects will serve the economy," he added.

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