Neom's CEO Is Out In Another Blow For Saudi Arabia's Ambitious Planned City
The world's largest construction project has lost its CEO.
Neom, Saudi Arabia's futuristic city development, will instead be overseen by execs from the country's sovereign wealth fund.
Nadhmi al-Nasr's abrupt departure was called a natural evolution and strategic move by the Public Investment Fund's board, but exact reasons are unknown, The Wall Street Journal reported. PIF’s Aiman al-Mudaifer was named acting CEO.
Nasr had been the chief executive since 2018. The builder expanded an oil field for Saudi-owned Aramco and led a university complex's construction before heading Neom.
Neom, dreamed up as a new 9-million-resident city nestled on the coast of the Red Sea, is part of the country's plan to diversify its oil-driven economy. However, it has been plagued with leadership and financial challenges since its announcement in 2017.
Wayne Borg and Antoni Vives, the media head and skyscraper development lead, have also departed, and Saudi officials don't have the money to fund the projects within the city.
Neom is planned to be the size of Massachusetts and encompass a floating business district, a mountain ski resort and two skyscrapers taller than the Empire State Building. The project is of priority to the country's crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman. His initial plan was for Neom to cost $500B and host 9 million residents, with the first million moved in by 2030.
However, Saudi officials have come to realize just the skyscrapers in The Line — a 160-mile-long stretch of development that is supposed to serve as Neom’s urban core — would cost over $2T. They are expected to be the world's tallest buildings, despite its first phase being downsized from 10 miles to 1.5 miles in length.
Foreign investors are key to the project's success but still haven't been secured, causing projects within the development to be delayed, scaled down or canceled. Even though the Public Investment Fund has $1T in assets, that is largely in investments that can't be offloaded easily.
There is a bright spot: Last year, the project scored a $5.6B infusion that pays for the pop-up city near the site that is housing about 100,000 workers.
