Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund has said no projects within NEOM have been cancelled, despite changes in spending priorities and growing reports of project revisions.
Speaking to Al Arabiya Business, PIF Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan said NEOM’s development company has been asked to reorganise expenditure as part of a review of priorities.
However, he pushed back against the idea that The Line defines the whole NEOM project, saying it is only one component of a much broader development strategy. Instead, he pointed to Oxagon, NEOM’s planned industrial and logistics hub, as a more immediate priority because of its size and economic importance.
“Is having The Line by 2030 important? I don’t think so. It would be good to have, but it’s not a must. What we must have is Oxagon,” Al-Rumayyan said.
His comments come after reports that NEOM had ended a contract tied to the construction of three dams intended to create a freshwater lake at Trojena, the mountain tourism destination within the wider project. The contract had originally been awarded to Italian contractor Webuild in January 2024 as part of a $4.7 billion infrastructure package.
Al-Rumayyan said the broader direction of NEOM and other Saudi giga-projects is now shifting toward more sustainable financing, with less dependence on direct PIF support and a greater role for private capital. He added that investment priorities are regularly reassessed, with sectors such as artificial intelligence now receiving more attention.
NEOM was first unveiled in October 2017 by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh, as the flagship project of Saudi Arabia’s economic transformation plans.
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