Saudi Arabia scales back The Cube in Arabia Saudita's Neom project
Saudi Arabia has scaled back The Cube inside the $500bn Neom project, another sign that arabia saudita is trimming some of the boldest parts of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030 overhaul. The move comes as other flagship plans, including The Line and Trojena, have also been watered down, put on hold or abandoned.
The Cube was set to cost an estimated $50bn, while Neom was pitched as a sweeping redesign of north west Saudi Arabia backed by the kingdom’s near $1trn sovereign wealth fund, the PIF. Vision 2030 was decreed a decade ago, and the current retrenchment now reaches across the projects that were meant to define it.
Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030
Mohammed bin Salman set Vision 2030 in motion a decade ago as a broad remaking of Saudi Arabia. The Line was meant to run more than 100 miles, or 161km, across untapped land in north west Saudi Arabia, while Trojena was planned as a year-round mountain resort with ski slopes, a ski village, a man-made lake, luxury hotels and shops.
Those ambitions were tied to the PIF, which has nearly $1trn in riches, and to a plan that imagined monolithic structures and new technological marvels on a global scale. The scale of the projects made them symbols of the crown prince’s agenda, not just commercial developments.
Neom, The Line and Trojena
Neom’s scale also made it the most exposed to any change in Saudi priorities. Several projects under the $500bn umbrella have now been watered down, put on hold or abandoned, with The Line, Trojena and The Cube all reported as being reassessed. The Asian Winter Games planned for Trojena in 2029 were cancelled and moved to Kazakhstan, removing one of the clearest external milestones attached to the project.
That retreat has been linked in part to a big fall in oil prices before the current war in the Middle East. Oil prices have since risen because of the war, but the fighting has also created uncertainty that constrains Saudi revenue and spending. Foreign investment has not materialised at the level Saudi Arabia had been banking on.
The Cube and LIV Golf
Ellen R Wald, author of Saudi, Inc., said the pattern fits earlier phases of the kingdom’s buildup. “This is the same playbook, the same thing again with The Line. You know, 'We're going to build thi” she said. The quote points to a recurring problem for the projects: the announcement of vast plans has not always matched the pace at which Saudi Arabia can finance or sustain them.
The LIV Golf tour has cost about $5bn to date, adding another expensive line to the same retrenchment. For readers tracking the kingdom’s transformation drive, the practical change is that the most visible parts of Vision 2030 are no longer moving as one uninterrupted push; they are being narrowed, delayed or dropped project by project.
The immediate open question is which other pieces of Neom will be altered next, because the current pattern has already reached The Line, Trojena, The Cube and LIV Golf. Saudi Arabia’s flagship redesign now advances under tighter financial limits than the one announced a decade ago.
