The tunnels formed part of the infrastructure backbone of Neom’s The Line project
Neom has cancelled the contracts related to the construction of the tunnel sections of The Line in northwest Saudi Arabia.
In a stock exchange announcement filed on 13 March, South Korean contractor Hyundai E&C said that Neom cancelled its related contract on 29 December last year.
Hyundai E&C was executing the drill and blast section of The Line tunnels in a joint venture with Greece’s Archirodon and South Korean counterpart Samsung C&T.
The firm said that its share of the joint venture was about 35%, amounting to $483m.
In June 2022, Neom awarded contracts for constructing the mountain tunnel sections of The Line, as MEED reported.
The drill and blast works were split into four packages, with two contracting teams winning two packages each.
The other joint-venture team comprised Spain’s FCC with the local Shibh Al-Jazira Contracting Company (Sajco) and Beijing-based China State Construction Engineering Corporation.
The tunnels formed part of the infrastructure backbone of Neom’s 170-kilometre (km) The Line development. Launched in January 2021.
What began as Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s defining symbol of a post-oil Saudi Arabia unravelled with quiet finality over the span of roughly two years. By April 2024, planners were already being forced to slash the initial phase to just 2.4 kilometres (km) by 2030.
By July last year, with the sovereign wealth fund facing tightening liquidity, the kingdom was reported to have conducted a “strategic review” to determine if The Line was even feasible, a process described as a “recalibration” of Vision 2030.
Resources are now being directed into projects essential for the Fifa World Cup 2034, Expo 2030 and critical housing, healthcare and education targets.
According to media reports, the government is reported to have pivoted towards repositioning what remains of Neom as an industrial and data centre hub, exploiting the Red Sea coastline’s access to seawater cooling for artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure.
