French energy giant EDF has been dropped from Saudi Arabia’s megacity project aligned with NEOM, the Line. This is as the kingdom scales back its futuristic desert city amid various concerns such as the project’s safety, technical challenges and ballooning costs. EDF won the tender in January 2023 to carry out preliminary studies on the conception and construction of a power plant. It entailed the construction of a hydroelectric power plant in Saudi Arabia’s futuristic megacity in the desert. However, the Saudi authorities have quietly cancelled the contract, an investigation by Radio France revealed on Tuesday. The kingdom informed EDF in March that they no longer required the hydroelectric power plant. Instead, NEOM officials noted that they are focused on a mix of photovoltaic panels, wind power, and batteries. Through this, they aim to scale down the megaproject and power the reduced development.
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Launched in 2017 as part of Saudi’s Prince flagship Vision 2030 project, NEOM aimed to construct the 170-kilometer linear city. However, concerns regarding the project’s environmental impact and the costs are making it difficult to be accomplished. At EDF’s hydraulic engineering centre in La Motte-Servolex, Savoie, staff expressed mixed feelings. “This abandonment is good news because employees will no longer be at odds with this project,” said Florian Chollet, a CGT union rep at EDF Hydro. Some EDF employees had already expressed discomfort over the NEOM project.
With over 100,000 workers mobilized across an area the size of Belgium, the project has struggled with overcrowded camps. Furthermore, inadequate infrastructure, and multiple safety incidents, according to reports in The Wall Street Journal, described the megaproject as a “dystopia” in the desert. Despite such setbacks, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman appears determined to continue with a scaled-down version of NEOM. The project, owned by the kingdom’s $940-billion sovereign wealth fund, remains central to Saudi efforts to diversify away from its dependency on oil.
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