--- title: "CEO in Charge of Saudi Arabia’s 100-Mile Skyscraper Out After Allegations of Mass Employee Death" description: "The head of the world's largest and most ambitious construction project has stepped down amid some jaw-dropping claims about its death toll." date: "2024-11-16" modified: "2024-11-16" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/ceo-saudi-neom-skyscraper-exit" categories: - "Future Society" tags: - "neom" - "Saudi Arabia" - "the digest" - "the line" --- # CEO in Charge of Saudi Arabia’s 100-Mile Skyscraper Out After Allegations of Mass Employee Death ![The head of the world's largest and most ambitious construction project has stepped down amid some jaw-dropping claims about its death toll.]() *\Image: Fayez Nureldine / AFP via Getty\* ## Build Engine The head of the world's [largest and most ambitious construction project]() has stepped down amid jaw-dropping claims about its death toll. As the [*Wall Street Journal* reports](), Nadhmi al-Nasr, the CEO of Saudi Arabia's futuristic city project Neom — which includes The Line, a planned pair of skycrapers that would be 100 miles in length — has abruptly departed the role he's held since 2018. This exit comes after a [new *Channel 3* documentary]() alleged that [more than 21,000 foreign workers had died]() during its construction, a figure that doesn't even seem to include the number of [indigenous people displaced and disappeared]() during Neom's construction. Sources familiar with the executive shakeup confirmed to the newspaper that he had left the position in recent days, though it remains unclear why exactly the Neom CEO left and whether it had to do with the recent allegations. In an email viewed by the *WSJ*, Neom's board named Aiman al-Mudaifer, a real estate executive with the Saudi kingdom's Public Investment Fund, as al-Nasr's successor. In that email, Neom's governing body said the move was a "strategic decision of the Board and a natural evolution." ## Behind Budget While the specter of all those deaths hangs over the project, insiders who spoke to the *WSJ* said that the Public Investment Fund is now stepping in to take over after [repeated delays]() and [ballooning budgets]() on the project that seems very difficult to execute. An experienced builder, al-Nasr oversaw the construction of both a giant oil field for the kingdom's Aramco oil company and a university complex jutting up against the Red Sea. But the mind-boggling planned scope of Neom — which beyond the 100-mile skyscrapers are also slated to include a [soccer stadium]() for the kingdom's 2026 World Cup bid, a [ski resort in the desert](), and a [floating business district]() — is far beyond anything on the ex-CEO's résumé. As the newspaper's sources note, two of Neom's other top executives, a pair of Westerners who were the subjects of a [*WSJ* corruption exposé]() earlier this year, have also left their positions in recent months. Viewed together, these departures suggest the Saudis are cleaning house — and that the people who died to get there may matter less than the kingdom's bottom line. **More on Saudi Arabia:** [*More Than 1,300 Muslim Pilgrims Die From Extreme Heat*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()