Neom facts for kids

Neom Bay

Coast and islands, Neom peninsula (middle)

The development work of the project's first phase, Neom Bay, was planned to start in the first quarter of 2019 with completion 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 begin commercial flight traffic after the first phase of the airport was completed with a runway length of 3,757 m (12,326 ft). The first commercial flight was by Saudia from Riyadh. The planned airport has been registered by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) with the code NUM.

Oxagon

Oxagon (originally named Neom Industrial City) was announced as a floating industrial complex in the shape of an octagon. Per the announcement, it will be located around 25 kilometres (16 mi) north of the town of Duba, and cover roughly 200–250 square kilometres (77–97 sq mi) of land, of which approximately 40 square kilometres (15 sq mi) forms the city. Oxagon is designed to focus on manufacturing, industrial research and development, incorporating the former Duba port, which has been renamed the "port of Neom". The plans for the complex include a desalination plant, a hydrogen plant, and an oceanographic research center. It will also be home to the cognitive multinational company Tonomus (originally NEOM Tech & Digital Company), which is the first subsidiary company to evolve from NEOM.

On December 16, 2022, Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources, the Saudi Authority for Industrial Cities and Technology Zones and Neom signed a memorandum of understanding to facilitate collaboration and legislation in support of Neom's Future Factories Program.

Trojena

On 3 March 2022, the Trojena project was launched, which will potentially be the first major outdoor skiing destination in the Arabian Peninsula. The project's site is about 50 kilometres (31 mi) from the Gulf of Aqaba coast in the Sarat Mountains, with elevations ranging from 1,500–2,600 metres (4,900–8,500 ft). Although it is in the desert, the site's climate is considerably cooler than is the rest of Neom's territory. Ennismore, a lifestyle and hospitality company, was announced as the inaugural partner with its brands 25hours Hotels and Morgans Originals. In September 2023, Zaha Hadid Architects designed a 330 m (1,080 ft) tall skyscraper for Trojena which will stand on a mountain overlooking an artificial lake. Renders of the skyscraper, which will be connected to the lakeside development by a cable car, showed a crystalline structure made of numerous columns that narrow towards the peak.

Sindalah

In December 2022, Neom announced plans for Sindalah, an 1,100,000-cubic-yard luxury resort complex off the city coast. It is planned to have an 86-berth marina and three luxury hotels, and it could accommodate as many as 2,400 visitors daily. A nine-hole golf course overlooking the sea was constructed in 2023. In October 2024, Sindalah opened its doors to visitors.

Aquellum

In January 2024, Neom announced Aquellum, a "subterranean digitalized community of the future" that will "invert architectural principles to integrate with nature". Described as an "upside-down skyscraper", it will be dug into a 450m-high mountain, with access from an underwater square.

Leyja

Leyja is a planned tourist destination which is designed to support the Saudi Vision 2030 plan for a sustainable tourism industry. According to the Saudi Press Agency, 95 per cent of Leyja's land area will be preserved for natural space. Leyja includes three Hotels which are the Adventure Hotel, designed by Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), Oasis Hotel, designed by Mario Cucinella Architects (MCA), and the Wellness Hotel, designed by Killa Design. The hotels will provide 120 boutique rooms and suites.

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.

Utilities

A subsidiary, ENOWA, has been founded to provide renewable energy, green hydrogen, and zero waste desalination.

NEOM recently started a project to create biodiversity conservation zones. The goal is to protect endangered species in the area through rewilding programs that work with foreign conservation groups. NEOM's plan for education includes building "smart schools" with AI-driven lessons that give each student a customized learning experience and training in advanced technology areas that prepare them for jobs in the digital economy in the future.

International relations

In March 2020, Neom signed a partnership deal as a principal partner with Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team. In June 2022, Neom became the title sponsor of McLaren Racing's electric motorsport division as NEOM McLaren Electric Racing from the 2022–23 season, with McLaren's Formula E and Extreme E divisions renamed as NEOM McLaren Formula E Team and NEOM McLaren Extreme E Team respectively. At the 2023 London ePrix, the McLaren Formula E Team and Neom developed and raced the world's first motorsport livery designed using AI.

In July 2020, the American company Air Products & Chemicals, Inc. announced that it would build the world's largest green hydrogen plant in Saudi Arabia. The company will jointly own the US$5 billion project with Saudi Arabia's ACWA Power and Neom.

In March 2021, Neom signed a four-year global sponsorship agreement with the Asian Football Confederation.

In 2022, Neom hosted Extreme E's 2022 Desert X-Prix and held the naming rights to the series' Island X-Prix in Sardinia. In May 2022, Indian conglomerate Larsen & Toubro was awarded the contract for construction of a 2,930-megawatt solar power generation plant, a 1,370-megawatt wind-power farm, a 400-megawatt battery energy storage system, and a power transmission network of about 190 km. In October 2022, Trojena was announced as the future host of the 2029 Asian Winter Games.

After opening its first international office in London in November 2023, Neom opened its second one in New York in February 2024.

Suggestion of Israeli cooperation

Despite historically antagonistic relations, Israel is speculated to have a major role in the development of NEOM, with some suggesting that Saudi Arabia could be expressing an interest in Israeli intellectual capability to this end. Israel is suggested to have also reciprocated this. In line with this, Saudi Arabia is said to hope to establish an economic partnership with Israel to promote economic development of Neom. In particular, analysts suggest that Saudi Arabia may be interested in improved economic relations with high-tech industries in Israel required for the technological vision of Neom. According to a report in an Israeli newspaper, there is supposedly evidence of coordination between Arab businessmen and diplomats in Tel Aviv, with companies in Israel said to be ready to secure billions of dollars worth of contracts. The Saudi Arabian government is also supposedly involved in such communications. As such, analysts have suggested Neom as a potential impetus for normalisation between Saudi and Israel.

See also

• List of Saudi Vision 2030 Projects
• Neom SC
• Ecological urbanism
• Megacity
• King Abdullah Economic City
• Red Sea Project
• Masdar City
• Qiddiya
• New Murabba
• Solarpunk
• AlUla
• Al-Ahsa Oasis
• Saudi–Egypt Causeway