Neom increases workforce to get vision over the line

Neom/X

• 60,000 more workers to join
• 100 companies get progress brief
• Opportunities are ‘monumental’

The pace of construction on Saudi Arabia’s $500 billion giga-project Neom is to accelerate, with the workforce rising by almost half by next year.

The number of people employed in construction will increase from more than 140,000 to more than 200,000 in 2025, the developer said in a statement, after reports of construction workers being dismissed at one site.

At a two-day industry forum held at the development site, more than 100 construction companies were briefed on work progress and available opportunities at key projects across Neom.

---

---

The Line, a 170 km-long city to be built in modular phases, is scheduled to open its first phase in 2030, the developer said, without giving any details.

AGBI reported in March that only around 5km of the controversial project would be completed by 2030 in the first phase.

Bloomberg said last week that only 2.4km would be completed by 2030 and that some workers had been laid off. The Line would now have 300,000 residents by 2030 at most.

• Saudi cement prices under pressure as competition mounts
• Saudi giga-project designs to merge tradition and futurism
• Neom unveils bridge resort with world’s longest infinity pool

At the forum, Neom officials gave updates on construction progress across the mega city including the Spine, Oxagon, Trojena and Neom international airport.

“As we go into our busiest-ever phase of development, the scale of opportunities across Neom is monumental,” Neom’s CEO Nadhmi Al-Nasr said.

With projects progressing fast across all parts of the region, Neom is collaborating with globally renowned contractors to achieve its visionary goals, Al-Nasr said.

A Neom spokesman told AGBI last month that the Saudi winter resort of Trojena will be completed and ready to open in 2027, ahead of the 2029 Asian Winter Games, making it the first major project to come online. 

Clark Williams, marketing and communications director of Trojena, said: “We have the Asian Winter Games in 2029 but it will be done before that. Our one-phase development will have it done by 2027.”

The government said in December last year that some of Saudi Arabia's giga-projects could be delayed because of a slowdown in oil prices, high interest rates and lower than expected levels of foreign direct investment.