NEOM in 2026: What Is Being Built, and What Has Changed

6 March 2024, updated 8 October 2026

In October 2026, NEOM remains a development area of 26,500 km² in the north-west of Saudi Arabia, but further work on The Line is halted until at least after 2030, according to a Semafor report of 22 May 2026. The 2029 Asian Winter Games, once due to be held at Trojena, NEOM’s mountain region, will take place in Almaty, Kazakhstan, under a host city contract the Olympic Council of Asia signed on 5 February 2026. Of the other projects, NEOM said in October 2024 that Sindalah had welcomed its first guests, as Arab News reported at the time, and NEOM plans to spend about 3 billion US dollars on further developing Oxagon, according to Semafor.

This article was first published in March 2024 and rewritten in October 2026. Its figures come from NEOM’s own website, from the Olympic Council of Asia and from press reports; where a press report is the only source, the publication is named in the sentence.

NEOM at a glance in October 2026

The table sets each part of NEOM against what was announced or planned and against the status documented in October 2026, with the source in brackets.

What is NEOM, and how large is it?

NEOM is not a single city but a development area of five regions and a nature reserve. Its website gives a land footprint of 26,500 km², and its About page lists the regions as Oxagon, The Line, Trojena, the NEOM Nature Reserve, the Islands of NEOM and Magna. On the Islands of NEOM page, the count is 41 islands, accessible from a coastline of 468 km.

According to Arab News, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced NEOM in 2017, and in January 2019 Saudi Arabia created NEOM Company, a closed joint-stock company to be fully owned by the Public Investment Fund (PIF), to develop it. The same report described NEOM as a planned 500 billion US dollar mega-city.

Is The Line still being built?

Further work on The Line is halted until at least after 2030, Semafor reported on 22 May 2026, and its twin mirrored skyscrapers are being significantly redesigned. The same report noted that The Line had once been projected to cost more than 1 trillion US dollars.

In November 2025, heise online reported, citing the Financial Times, that work on The Line had ceased, and summarised the original plan: a city 170 km long, in which nine million people were to live.

NEOM’s own page on The Line now says that the project is “advancing through a phased, demand-led approach”. It gives no length, height or number of residents.

What happened to Trojena and the 2029 Asian Winter Games?

The 2029 Asian Winter Games will be held in Almaty, Kazakhstan, not at Trojena. On 5 February 2026, in Milan, the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) signed the host city contract for the 10th Asian Winter Games, to be staged in Almaty in 2029.

Before that, in January 2026, the OCA and the Saudi Olympic and Paralympic Committee had agreed to postpone Saudi Arabia’s 2029 edition to a later date, to be announced in due course. Under the same framework, Saudi Arabia is to host a series of standalone winter sports events in the coming years.

According to Semafor, Trojena, which had been due to host those Games, will receive no new investment until after 2030. NEOM’s Trojena page places the region at altitudes of up to 2,600 m and does not mention the Asian Winter Games.

Has Sindalah opened, and what is planned for Oxagon?

On 27 October 2024, Arab News reported NEOM’s statement that Sindalah had welcomed its first guests and was set to receive up to 2,400 guests a day by 2028. NEOM’s main website pages, including its list of regions, do not mention Sindalah as of October 2026, and Semafor reported in May 2026 that NEOM had postponed plans to develop tourism destinations along the Red Sea coast until after 2030.

For Oxagon, one of the five regions on NEOM’s list, Semafor reported on 22 May 2026 that NEOM plans to spend about 3 billion US dollars on further development.

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