Delays to Saudi Arabia’s snow mountain put 2029 Asian Winter Games at risk

Financial Times · Alison Killing

Saudi Arabia is struggling to deliver its desert-defying ski resort for the 2029 Asian Winter Games and has held internal discussions about finding alternative countries to host the event, said five people familiar with the project.

Saudi officials have discussed approaching South Korea or China about relocating the 2029 games and instead holding the subsequent edition in the kingdom four years later, said three of the people.

Trojena, the futuristic ski facility that forms part of Saudi Arabia’s $500bn Neom mega-project, is still under construction and faces escalating engineering and logistical hurdles. Multiple people said the Trojena complex would not be completed on time without substantially increasing its budget.

The conversations about a fallback option mark a setback for Riyadh’s ambitions to turn the desert kingdom into a venue for elite international sport and showcase Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s outsized development ambitions.

A western diplomat and people who previously worked for Neom said the Saudis were eyeing South Korea and China because both recently hosted big international winter sports competitions and have the required facilities.

Saudi Arabia has invested billions of dollars in sport and sports infrastructure as it seeks to project its brand globally, reshape perceptions of the conservative kingdom and develop local entertainment facilities. Last year it was awarded the rights to host the 2034 football World Cup.

The kingdom has faced accusations of “sportswashing” from activists and human rights groups, which it rejects.

Neom said the mega-project’s development “including Trojena, is progressing according to a phased plan that emphasises international standards, long-term sustainability and legacy outcomes. Work on Trojena, Neom’s year-round mountain destination, continues.” It directed further questions to the Olympic Council of Asia, which did not respond.

A person briefed on the matter said: “They are trying to do something that’s never been done before and they are committed to doing it right. A project like this is going to be a real challenge for everybody and they are working through that.

“It’s not up to Saudi Arabia if they are ready to host it, it’s up to the OCA. They will be the ones to shift it, based on Saudi Arabia not meeting its timelines.”

Beijing said: “China supports Saudi Arabia in hosting this edition of the Asian Winter Games. We are not aware of the situation you mentioned.” Seoul’s ministry for culture, sports and tourism said it had “not engaged in any discussions with the Saudi Arabian government” about the 2029 games.

Trojena, perched 2,600m above sea level near the Jordanian border, is billed as a “world-class centre for winter sports” to include 30km of ski runs with artificial snow from December to March, hotels and leisure facilities such as a spa, golf course and hiking trails.

Snowfall is rare in the area, so the ski resort intended to rely entirely on artificial snow, said people familiar with the plans. This will be produced from water pumped 200km from the Gulf of Aqaba to Trojena, gaining 2.6km in elevation. This supply will also fill a 140m-deep artificial lake to provide all the water for the resort.

Using a pipe with a diameter of 1m, as planned, would require water to flow at full capacity for at least two years to fill the lake. Italian construction group Webuild announced last year it had signed a $4.7bn contract to build the lake.

But construction has yet to start on the project’s main desalination plant in Sharma, making the 2029 deadline extremely tight. Neom’s management had originally planned to start filling the lake in August 2025.

Water is currently transported to the site in tanker trucks for construction needs and drinking water. There are no permanent running rivers in the Arabian peninsula.

One person familiar with the resort said pumping in water was not the only option. “Theoretically it could be brought in by truck,” they said. Satellite images and videos produced by Trojena this year showed the 400m-long test ski slope covered in snow from specially designed machines.

A second major part of the project, “The Vault”, was also progressing slowly, said a person familiar with the work. The Vault complex, which includes hospitality, retail and entertainment facilities, is being built into the mountainside and requires a “mind-boggling” amount of rock to be blasted out, the person said.

Some 3,000 tension cables will need to be driven into the remaining rock walls before other construction work can start. But the contractors can only install one cable per day, meaning at the current rate the basic structure could take more than eight years to complete.

A rendering of ‘The Vault’, a geometric structure carved into the mountains © Neom
The mountainous terrain has been an important factor in the pace of work on Trojena. The road to the ski resort has just one carriageway in each direction, satellite images show. Workers say the steep gradient and sharp turns make it difficult for construction vehicles to navigate.

For safety reasons, the road is often blocked to non-construction vehicles including those carrying workers. “These constraints don’t work well with [Trojena’s] accelerated schedule,” said one former worker.

Former employees said there were contingency plans for holding the games at Trojena even if the planned facilities were not all ready for 2029. They said the Asian Winter Games were not reliant on the ski village, since the slopes they planned to use were elsewhere on the mountain.

A promotion video of the construction work at Trojena, a desert-defying ski facility that is part of Saudi Arabia’s more than $500bn Neom mega-project © Neom
Former Neom employees described Trojena as a well-run project that was one of the scheme’s most organised. Other Neom projects have run late and badly over budget.

Neom’s new chief executive is conducting a review of the mega-project, which is likely to lead to its myriad schemes being scaled back and to acknowledge delays, the FT reported earlier this year.

Neom, like the kingdom’s other projects, is owned by the Public Investment Fund. Almost a decade after Neom’s launch, the $925bn sovereign wealth fund is under pressure to deliver returns and prioritise its spending as it manages its vast commitments.

People familiar with Trojena insisted it remained feasible. “The difficulties have been magnified by the schedule imposed on the project,” one said.

“The Saudis are really committed to build[ing] something there,” said another. “Maybe not in the scale that they have imagined in first place.”

One of the people familiar with the situation said: “They are undeterred and determined to make this happen in the right way. That means at a level that allows winter sport to grow . . . in Saudi Arabia.”

Additional reporting by Christian Davies in Seoul. Animation by Steven Bernard