NEOM: A Comprehensive Guide to Its Projects, Regions, and Developments

Saudi Arabia has become a premier destination for anyone seeking advanced and pioneering projects across various fields. Saudi Vision 2030 has played a pivotal role in driving development and accelerating these processes in record time. However, speed is not everything; mastery also claims the lion’s share of Saudi excellence in development. Among the projects that have captured significant media attention are the NEOM projects. NEOM did not enter the market merely to build and develop; innovation was an integral part of its journey and vision. In this article, we will explore the most prominent NEOM projects that have reshaped the Saudi development landscape.

What is NEOM?

In northwestern Saudi Arabia, specifically along the coast of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba, lies the massive mega-future real estate development city: NEOM. Beyond being one of the flagship developmental cities of Saudi Vision 2030, “NEOM” is also a city aimed at building a new model for urban living across multiple sectors, including tourism and the economy—a model fundamentally built on innovation, sustainability, and advanced technologies.

However, contrary to popular belief, NEOM is not a single city; rather, it is an integrated region encompassing several major projects and destinations that we will explore in the key projects section. In terms of area, NEOM spans approximately 26,500 square kilometers, making it one of the largest development projects in the world.

NEOM’s Vision and Its Role in the Future of Saudi Arabia

Today, NEOM stands as one of the most prominent features of the transformation that Saudi Arabia seeks to achieve under Vision 2030. It serves as a futuristic model aimed at reimagining how people live, work, travel, and invest in the Kingdom. As mentioned earlier, the core idea behind NEOM was to create a region that blends innovation, sustainability, and quality of life, leveraging modern technology and advanced environmental solutions to build a globally competitive destination.

According to NEOM’s official website, this mega-city is built upon a set of core values that reflect the nature and ambition of the project. These include bold experimentation with things never done before, environmental and social responsibility, a continuous search for better ways to work and develop, as well as commitment, respect, and the embracing of cultural diversity. These values make NEOM a project centered on people as much as it is on infrastructure, striving to create an environment that encourages creativity, fosters collaboration, respects differences, and places sustainability at the heart of its decision-making.

On the future outlook for Saudi Arabia, NEOM plays a vital role in supporting economic diversification away from traditional oil reliance. It achieves this by developing new sectors such as tourism, renewable energy, advanced manufacturing, logistics, technology, and research & innovation. It also aims to attract global investments and talent, unlocking new job opportunities and economic horizons. Thus, NEOM can be viewed as a national platform to test ideas of the future and implement them on the ground—a project reflecting Saudi Arabia’s ambition to build a more diversified economy, a more vibrant society, and a global destination uniting nature, technology, and humanity.

What Are the Key Projects Undertaken by NEOM?

Having explored the concept behind NEOM, let us review the creative projects that have made this region famous:

● THE LINE: NEOM’s Most Iconic Futuristic City

THE LINE is NEOM’s most famous project and the one most closely tied to its global image. It was introduced as a futuristic city based on a linear urban model focused on quality of life, reducing car dependency, and seamlessly integrating urban spaces with nature. NEOM describes THE LINE as a new paradigm for urban development, built around the concepts of livability and sustainability within a natural setting that brings together mountains, desert, and coast.

Although there is no official announcement canceling THE LINE, the project is undergoing significant restructuring with the potential scaling back of the size and capacity previously announced. Recent reports indicate that the project is undergoing a redesign, with a stronger focus on actionable, phased implementation rather than the full 170-kilometer concept, with some sources suggesting construction may be paused beyond at least 2030.

● OXAGON: The Hub of Industry, Innovation, and Logistics

Oxagon represents NEOM’s industrial and logistics arm and is considered the world’s largest floating industrial city, as well as one of the project’s most advanced areas in terms of operational infrastructure. Situated on the Red Sea coast near the Suez Canal, it features its own dedicated gateway named Port of NEOM. The city will center around advanced manufacturing, clean energy, AI-driven technologies, and supply chains. NEOM describes Oxagon as an emerging industrial city with a core development area of 48 square kilometers, anchored by its port that will connect the region to markets in Asia, Europe, and Africa, alongside its own advanced dedicated airport.

To date, Oxagon appears to be one of NEOM’s most active and realistic projects in the current phase. It will feature the world’s first fully integrated supply chain and port ecosystem, unifying the operation of all industrial city facilities to deliver world-class productivity levels with zero carbon emissions. NEOM also notes that the area hosts key projects such as the Port of NEOM and the NEOM Green Hydrogen Company, making it a critical economic hub within the Kingdom’s drive toward industry, renewable energy, and the knowledge economy.

● TROJENA: The Mountain and Tourism Destination in NEOM

NEOM is not limited to economics and investment; one of its primary directions is tourism, and Trojena is a prime example. It is a destination that leverages the Kingdom’s natural mountain landscape, located on the Sarawat/Al-Lawz mountain range at elevations reaching up to 2,600 meters above sea level. Trojena blends mountain terrain, outdoor activities, resorts, and sports and entertainment experiences to serve as a year-round tourist destination. Its significance lies in presenting a different image of Saudi tourism, moving away from traditional desert and coastal destinations by focusing on mountain climates and natural diversity.

● NEOM Islands: Luxury Marine Destinations on the Red Sea Coast

The Red Sea is undeniably a rich marine and natural treasure, hosting over a thousand species of fish, mammals, and marine animals, as well as over 300 species of coral. NEOM’s stance on utilizing this natural wealth was bold: it created the NEOM Islands, a collection of marine destinations located within the rich ecosystem of the Red Sea at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe. Today, it stands as a destination built on marine beauty, coral reefs, aquatic life, and luxury hospitality experiences.

It is worth noting that NEOM, driven by its vision to preserve the Kingdom’s natural heritage, is deeply committed to preserving wildlife and the environment, making it an eco-friendly mega-project.

● MAGNA: The Coastal Destination on the Gulf of Aqaba

Speaking of the Red Sea and tourist destinations on the Gulf of Aqaba, we must highlight Magna—the new coastal region in NEOM extending over roughly 120 kilometers of coastline, where mountains, wadis, and the sea meet in a striking natural landscape. NEOM presents Magna as a coastal destination blending nature, luxury tourism, and serene experiences, with a core focus on preserving the region’s environment and natural scenery.

● NEOM Nature Reserve: Environmental Protection and Wildlife Rewilding

As previously mentioned, NEOM is dedicated to preserving and enriching the natural treasures of the site, making the NEOM Nature Reserve a natural extension of this approach. This project focuses on protecting landscapes, rehabilitating habitats, and reviving wildlife in northwestern Saudi Arabia. NEOM is actively working to protect 95% of the region’s land for nature, reintroducing animal species and building self-sustaining ecosystems. NEOM previously announced initiatives to reintroduce the Arabian Oryx to the region as part of its rewilding efforts.

Renewable Energy and Green Hydrogen in NEOM

NEOM shines brightly in the field of sustainability and clean energy utilization, seeking to build a development model reliant on clean energy sources while reducing carbon emissions. The NEOM Green Hydrogen Project stands out as one of the most critical clean energy ventures in the region—a joint venture between NEOM, ACWA Power, and Air Products. The project aims to produce up to 600 tons of green hydrogen per day, powered by approximately 4 gigawatts of solar and wind energy, before converting the hydrogen into green ammonia for export to global markets. NEOM Green Hydrogen Company indicates that this production could contribute to reducing up to 5 million tons of CO2 emissions annually. In June 2025, NEOM Green Hydrogen Company announced that the project had reached 80% completion by the start of the first quarter of 2025, including the hydrogen plant, wind farm, solar power station, and transmission grid. ACWA Power also clarified that the 4 GW solar and wind energy assets are scheduled for completion in mid-2026, after which electrolyzers will begin operating, with the first product expected to be available in 2027.

The importance of this project lies in the fact that it serves not only NEOM, but also supports Saudi Arabia’s ambition to become a global player in producing and exporting clean energy. Furthermore, it reinforces the Kingdom’s direction toward economic diversification and the development of future industries tied to clean transportation, low-carbon manufacturing, and sustainable supply chains.

The Future of NEOM: Between Ambition and Challenges

The future of NEOM represents a blend of grand ambition and realistic challenges. On one hand, NEOM remains one of the flagship Saudi Vision 2030 projects, designed to support Saudi economic diversification and foster new sectors such as tourism, renewable energy, advanced manufacturing, artificial intelligence, and logistics. NEOM describes itself as a “region in the making” in northwestern Saudi Arabia, aimed at supporting the diversification of the Kingdom’s economy and offering new urban solutions that enable humanity and nature to thrive together.

On the other hand, it is no longer accurate to discuss NEOM as if all its projects are proceeding at the exact scale and timeline announced at the outset. In recent years, clear signs of reprioritization have emerged, driven particularly by rising costs, the sheer scale of required infrastructure, and the need for more defined economic returns. Recent reports indicate that certain parts of NEOM, led by THE LINE, have undergone scope re-evaluations, shifting focus toward smaller, more actionable phases rather than the full long-term vision.

Despite these challenges, the project appears to be entering a more pragmatic phase built on restructuring, reprioritization, and focusing on the most executable sectors such as Oxagon, the Port of NEOM, green hydrogen, renewable energy, data centers, and advanced manufacturing.