Saudi Arabia has suspended planned construction of a colossal cube-shaped skyscraper at the centre of a city centre development in Riyadh while reassesses the project’s financing and feasibility, people familiar with the matter told Reuters.
The Mukaab, at the centre of Riyadh’s New Murabba development, is the latest fantastical giga-project linked to Saudi’s Vision 2030 to be curtailed or delayed as the kingdom’s $925 billion sovereign wealth fund scales back ambitions to manage costs and prioritise spending.
The kingdom is pivoting from heavy expenditure on futuristic projects that have dominated Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030, such as NEOM’s The Line, to initiatives seen as more pressing and potentially profitable.
Projects in focus now include infrastructure for World Expo 2030 and the 2034 World Cup, the sprawling $60 billion Diriyah mixed-use cultural zone and the Qiddiya tourism mega-project, people familiar with the matter said.
The repositioning also reflects mounting fiscal pressures as oil prices remain well below levels needed to fund the ambitious transformation agenda.
The Mukaab was planned as a 400-metre by 400-metre metal cube containing a dome with an AI-powered display, the largest on the planet, that visitors could observe from a more than 300 metre-tall ziggurat, or terraced structure, inside it.
“When you enter Mukaab, you enter another world,” CEO Michael Dyke told attendees at a Riyadh conference in December, acknowledging difficulties realising the project.
“Trying to solve for something that doesn’t exist today, that’s quite challenging,” he said.
Its future is now unclear, with work beyond soil excavation and pilings suspended. Development of the surrounding real estate is set to continue. More
