Saudi Arabia’s NEOM has unveiled a new video showing rapid progress being made on the futuristic $500 billion giga business and tourism project and a key part of the Kingdom’s 2030 diversification plans.
With NEOM having moved to the building phase of the project and the first destination – Sindalah – due to open its doors in 2024, the progress film shows real-world footage of the large-scale construction across NEOM regions including The Line, Trojena, Sindalah, and Oxagon.
The three-minute clip shows construction workers breaking ground on the vast site and laying the foundations for the giga-project, located on the Red Sea.
“The future of work, living, and sustainability is coming to life,” it says. “The masterplan is being realized more every day. A project unique in scale, already being built in a place with 95% of land protected for nature where rewilding is in motion, bringing animals back to their natural habitat.”
It also unveiled progress on NEOM’s new luxury island Sindalah which is set to rival top global tourist destinations such as the likes of Monaco and Athens with its year-long luxury offerings.
With its first visitors expected in early 2024, the new luxury tourist destination will be home to a vibrant, world-class marina and yacht club, positioning itself as a new addition to the international yachting season. Saudi Arabia’s national carrier Saudia now also offers direct flights to NEOM from London and Dubai.
A main gateway to the Red Sea, Sindalah Island is home to approximately 2,000 different marine species, many of which are exclusive to the Red Sea and cannot be found anywhere else in the world.
NEOM video gives an update on the $500 billion megaproject in Saudi Arabia, with a look at The Line, Trojena, Sindalah and Oxagon.
The video also showed work underway at the mountain destination TROGENA – which will be the first major outdoor skiing destination in the GCC and will host the 2029 Asian Winter Games, making it the first nation in western Asia to do so, with more than 32 countries due to take part.
It also showed the progress made on THE LINE, where residents will live in a 170km-long, 500m-tall city run by artificial intelligence and designed to house nine million people.
Work is commencing on OXAGON too, a futuristic industrial city that is planned to be the largest floating industrial complex in the world.
The video also revealed key achievements in 2022 – including the launch of NEOM’s ‘Tonomus’ – the first company to be established as a full-fledged subsidiary of NEOM – which will work to integrate artificial intelligence-led technology in the building of its giga- projects.
Last year also saw the launch of ENOWA, responsible for managing NEOM’S sustainable energy and water systems and featuring the world’s largest green hydrogen plant, and a $175 million investment in Volocpter, which will offer the next generation of transport.
Also in 2022, NEOM Beach Games launched, drawing in athletes from 25 countries. While the world’s fastest-growing lifestyle brand Ennismore become the first hotel partner for TROJENA in the same year.
“If we are to solve the challenges of tomorrow, we must face up to them today, no matter how difficult they may seem,” NEOM’s CEO Nadhmi al-Nasr said in a statement released on its website.
“At NEOM, we are addressing some of the most pressing challenges facing humanity by bringing together a community of the brightest minds committed to reimagining what a sustainable future will look like in 20 to 30 years and building it today.”
He continued, “We are redefining the future now. NEOM is open for business.”
The video is the first film in what will be an ongoing series showing progress at NEOM, according to the CEO.