For years, Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 was touted as one of the most ambitious wholesale economic development projects in the world, looking to break the Kingdom away from its dependence on hydrocarbons and create a futuristic hub of innovation, tourism and productivity. Nearly ten years after its launch and close to the self-imposed deadline for its implementation, however, Riyadh must reckon with a stark contrast between its branding as a modern state and the stalling of its megaprojects. The kingdom and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's mistake has been thinking that the governance practices and ideological foundations of the distant past can somehow build a wholly different future if enough money is invested. Through the cracks now routinely appearing on the façade of this strategy, a religiously rigid, socially conservative and politically centralized Saudi Arabia peeks through.
The massive infrastructure and real estate development projects that combinedly make up the Vision 2030 initiative's tangible backbone reached a staggering $1.3 trillion in value in 2024. Most of the funding is distributed by Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF) and focuses on giga-projects. The Line—a futuristic city-in-a-building designed to be a block wide and 110 miles long—is part of the $500 billion budget of the flagship NEOM umbrella project, which also includes a floating industrial city, renewable energy and water utilities as well as a number of residential, sports and luxury developments. By early 2026, The Line was reduced to a mere 10 miles in length, with pessimistic estimates giving it less than 2 miles by the time construction is finished, and a substantial part of the 'city of the future' now planned to serve as a data center. Multiple projects have been cancelled in the mountain resort of Trojena, and Saudi Arabia even withdrew from hosting the 2029 Asian Winter Games there. The floating city of the Oxagon is also facing the shifting of priorities and scale-downs.
