Neom is a city being built in Tabuk Province in northwestern Saudi Arabia. It is planned to incorporate smart city technologies and function as a tourist destination. The site is north of the Red Sea, east of Egypt across the Gulf of Aqaba, and south of Jordan. It is planned to cover a total area of 26,500 km² (10,200 sq mi), extending 170 kilometres along the coast of the Red Sea. Saudi Arabia aimed to complete major parts of the project by 2020, with an expansion completed in 2025, but it is behind schedule. The project has an estimated cost of $500 billion. On January 29, 2019, Saudi Arabia announced that it had set up a closed joint-stock company named Neom. The aim of this company, which is wholly owned by the Public Investment Fund, the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, is to develop the economic zone of Neom. The project is planned to be totally powered by renewable energy sources.
The name “Neom” was constructed from two words. The first three letters form the Ancient Greek prefix “Neo” meaning “new”. The fourth letter is from the abbreviation of Arabic: romanized: M>ustaqbal, the Arabic word for “future”.
The Line
In January 2021, the project unveiled plans for The Line, a linear city 170 kilometres (110 mi) long and 200 metres (660& ft) wide within the Neom area. It is planned to house 9 million residents without conventional cars, with all basic services within a 5-minute walking distance. The design for Neom, The Line project, was further modified in July 2022. Instead of constructing a city consisting of multiple buildings on a linear plan, it will be consolidated into one giant structure that is 500 metres (1,600 ft) tall, 200 metres (660 ft) wide and 170 kilometres (110 mi) long.
Neom Bay
The development work of the project’s first phase, Neom Bay, was planned to start in the first quarter of 2019 and be completed by 2020. The developments were to include constructing the airport at Sharma which would operate regular commercial flights between Riyadh and Neom. The plan of Neom Bay’s developments also involves building the first residential area in Neom as part of phase 1.
Neom Bay Airport
In June 2019, it was announced that the Neom Bay Airport would start to receive commercial flights after the first phase of the airport was completed with a runway length of 3,757 m (12,326 ft). The airport that is planned to be located at Neom Bay has been registered by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) with the code NUM.
Neom Industrial City (Oxagon)
Neom Industrial City (NIC) is located around 25 kilometres (16 mi) north of the town of Duba, and covers roughly 200–250 square kilometres (77–97 sq mi) of land, of which approximately 40 square kilometres (15 sq mi) forms the NIC. The project will focus on modern manufacturing, industrial research, and development centered on expanding the Duba port. In November 2021, the project was renamed to Oxagon and described as a floating industrial complex shaped like a regular octagon; it will be the largest in the world when completed, and would serve as a port for shipping routes through the Red Sea. Mohammed bin Salman billed the project as representing a radical new model for future manufacturing centers, based on Neom’s strategies of redefining the way humanity lives and works in the future.
Agriculture
Neom plans for 6,500 hectares (16,000 acres) of the surrounding land to become agricultural fields, and to rely heavily on genetically engineered crops.
Neom International Airport
The overall Development Area covers an area of 20.2 km². 6,600 metres long by 3,061 metres wide. The work is in progress.
Trojena
On 3 March 2022, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman launched the Trojena project, which will be the first major outdoor skiing destination in the Arabian Peninsula. It will be located in Saudi Arabia’s highest mountain range, about 50 kilometres (31 mi) from the Gulf of Aqaba coast, with elevations ranging from 1,500–2,600 metres (4,900–8,500 ft). The site is considerably cooler than the rest of Neom’s territory.
