The Line was meant to be a city over 170 kilometers in length, 200 meters across and 500 meters tall. The latest plans for it are 2.4 kilometers (1.5 miles) long.
That shrinkage says a lot about where Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 stands a decade after Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman launched it, then as deputy crown prince and defense minister. The reform agenda, priced at $2 trillion, was supposed to wean the world’s biggest oil exporter off crude and reshape its economy and society. Now Riyadh is reworking it.
A new five-year plan
Finance Minister Mohammed al-Jadaan told Bloomberg on a Monday that the government was drafting a plan for the next five years aimed at “doubling down on tourism, manufacturing, logistics and energy”. In his words, the revised approach means certain projects shrink, others grow, and a few are frozen.
The Public Investment Fund, the main investor behind Vision 2030’s projects, has pushed for the shift. Reuters reported in October 2025 that the fund, which holds $925 billion, wanted to move away from costly real estate toward industries promising quicker returns. Its governor, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, said in January that over the following five years the fund would concentrate on six “ecosystems”, including tourism, clean energy, industry and innovation.
What has been cut
Neom, the northwestern megaproject Mohammed bin Salman started himself, has taken the heaviest blows. The Financial Times reported, citing insiders, that after rows over late delivery and overspending the crown prince concluded it should be far smaller. Heise online relayed the report: the Belgium-sized site was to hold the luxury island Sindalah, opened in 2024, the Trojena ski resort and the Oxagon port city, along with The Line.
Trojena will now be smaller too. Saudi Arabia’s Olympic Committee has said the 2029 Asian Winter Games would be held in Almaty, Kazakhstan, rather than at the unfinished resort. Where The Line was to stand, the plan now is data centers for artificial intelligence, since the site has plentiful water from the Gulf of Aqaba and cheap renewable power. Neom told the newspaper it coordinates and prioritizes initiatives “so that they align with national goals and create long-term value.” One insider said the changes show the system can adapt its goals.
Elsewhere in Riyadh, construction of The Mukaab, a cube-shaped skyscraper 400 meters on each side planned as the centerpiece of the New Murabba district, was suspended in late January as officials took another look at the funding and whether it could be built. The crown prince unveiled a different scheme in October 2025: the King Salman Gate next to Mecca’s Grand Mosque, adding some 900,000 places to pray, indoors and out.
Why now
Alice Gower of the London consultancy Azure Strategy told DW that “many of the giga projects in particular could be described as unrealistic from the outset.” She also pointed to oil prices below the level needed for funding, high government spending and a young population that needs jobs. Heise noted that Saudi Arabia must also pay for the 2030 Expo and the 2034 Football World Cup.
Sources
- Saudi Arabia reshapes Vision 2030 around new priorities | DW
- Saudi Arabia significantly scales back Neom | heise online
