A region, not a city
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced NEOM on 24 October 2017 at the Future Investment Initiative conference in Riyadh. It covers 26,500 km² of the Kingdom's north-west, with 468 km of coastline on the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba. The Public Investment Fund leads, funds and wholly owns the project.
The name joins the Greek neo, meaning new, to the M of mustaqbal, the Arabic word for future. NEOM Company was incorporated in 2019, the year NEOM Bay Airport began operating, and work on essential infrastructure started in 2020.
The zones
Oxagon, announced in November 2021, is the industrial hub on the Red Sea coast, anchored by the Port of NEOM. The port was handed over in August 2022 as Oxagon's first operational asset, and global shipping lines began calling there in 2023. Trojena, announced in March 2022, is a mountain destination in the Jabal Al-Lawz range.
THE LINE was announced in January 2021, and designs unveiled in July 2022 described a linear city 170 km long. NEOM now describes it as advancing through a phased, demand-led approach. Sindalah, announced in December 2022, is an island destination about 1.8 km long.
Energy and nature
NEOM Green Hydrogen Company, an equal joint venture of Air Products, ACWA Power and NEOM announced in 2020, reached financial close in 2023. In December 2022, with the National Center for Wildlife, NEOM made its first release of Arabian oryx, Nubian ibex, sand gazelle and mountain gazelle.