NEOM has awarded contracts worth $1.5 billion to Italian company Webuild and its joint-venture partner Shibh Al Jazira Contracting Co (SAJCO) to design and build 57 kilometers of a high-speed railway in NEOM, along the north Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia.
The contract covers the design and build for a railway connecting THE LINE, a future-forward city with Oxagon, NEOM’s center for advanced and clean industries which will house a massive green hydrogen plant. As a result of this agreement, Webuild anticipates more than 4,000 direct and indirect jobs are to be generated in the Saudi market.
NEOM, a region designed as a blueprint for sustainable urban living with enhanced livability, is among Saudi’s key gigaprojects. NEOM’s green hydrogen plant is expected to begin green hydrogen production using 100% renewables in 2026. It will produce up to 1.2 million tons of green ammonia annually, or 600 tons of green hydrogen daily. Green ammonia will be exported to global markets to support the decarbonisation of the heavy transport sector.
It is estimated that up to 5 million tons of CO2 will be saved per year as a direct impact of the plant. When the plant commences operations at Oxagon in 2026, 100 percent of the green hydrogen will be available for global export in the form of green ammonia, under an exclusive long-term agreement with US-based Air Products Co.