Mukaab: Saudi Arabia suspends construction of controversial cube structure
Saudi Arabia has suspended the construction of the Mukaab, a giant cube-shaped structure that was set to be built in downtown Riyadh, according to a report in Reuters.
Citing four people familiar with the matter, Reuters reported that the project was being paused while the kingdom reassessed its financing and feasibility.
It’s the latest of a number of grandiose and ambitious Saudi projects that have been scaled down or delayed amid a tightening of purse strings.
The Mukaab was initially projected as a cube centrepiece spanning 400 metres on each side - which organisers said would make it large enough to fit 20 Empire State buildings within it.
Saudi authorities said during its launch that it would be the world’s largest structure.
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It was set to include a large dome inside it, displaying holographic AI images from a 300-metre-tall terrace.
The future of the project is now unclear. Three sources told Reuters that work beyond soil excavation and pilings had been suspended.
The Mukaab was the main centrepiece for New Murabba, a major development of downtown Riyadh launched in February 2023.
Aside from the cube structure, other real estate developments in the surrounding area were set to continue, five sources familiar with the plans said.
When the Mukaab project was announced, it drew heavy criticism for its likeness to the Kaaba in the holy city of Mecca.
Muslims around the world pray towards the building in the centre of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, and circumambulate it during Hajj and Umrah pilgrimages.
Saudi commentators rejected these criticisms, and said the architecture was inspired by the Najd region, and that the shape of the building was a contemporary reimagining of the Murabba Palace in Riyadh.
Completion date pushed back
The New Murabba development was set to include 104,000 residential units. The initial completion date of 2030 has been pushed back to 2040.
Knight Frank, a real estate consultancy, estimated that New Murabba would cost about $50bn - roughly the same as Jordan’s GDP.
Over the weekend, the Financial Times reported that the Neom megacity project was being significantly downscaled and redesigned.
The centrepiece of that, a 170km straight-line city, is set to be radically scaled back and redesigned into a more “modest” project.
Sources told the FT that Neom would now reposition to focus on “industrial” sectors, including by becoming a hub for data centres as part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s push to become a major player in artificial intelligence.
On Saturday, Saudi authorities also announced that Trojena - a planned ski resort in Neom - was being downsized and would no longer host the 2029 Asian Winter Games.
The scaling back of such ambitious goals is partly due to stagnating oil prices.
Saudi Arabia is also refocusing its efforts on the hard deadlines of the 2030 Expo international trade fair, as well as the 2034 World Cup.
The kingdom is carrying out a comprehensive review of several of its projects that formed part of its Vision 2030 strategy.
“We're very transparent. We're not going to shy away from saying we had to shift this project, delay it, re-scope it,” Faisal al-Ibrahim, the Saudi economy minister, told Reuters last week, without specifying which projects he was referring to.
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