Saudi Arabia’s NEOM project is pushing deeper into the desert with a plan that sounds like science fiction. Webuild, an Italian contractor, says it has a $4.7 billion contract to build three dams that would hold a man-made freshwater lake about 1.7 miles long at Trojena, a mountain destination under construction in northwest Saudi Arabia.
The project is pitched as a year-round resort with skiing, luxury hotels, and water sports. It is also a real-world test of something much less glamorous. In a warming world, can a new “oasis” be built without draining water and energy systems elsewhere?
A lake in the Trojena mountains
Trojena sits in the Tabuk region near the Gulf of Aqaba, about 31 miles from the coast, with elevations from roughly 4,900 to 8,500 feet. That altitude is part of the pitch, since temperatures can be cooler than the lowland desert and the terrain is steep enough to carve out a reservoir basin.
Webuild says the planned lake would cover about 370 acres, or roughly 0.6 square miles, and it describes an island reserved for botanical walks and dives. The contract is widely described as about €4.3 billion (roughly $4.7 billion), and the work sits inside Saudi Vision 2030, the national plan to diversify the economy.
Three dams and a weekly mountain of rock
The main dam is designed as a roller-compacted concrete structure about 476 feet tall and roughly 1,560 feet long. Webuild says a second dam will also use roller-compacted concrete, while a third will be built as a rock structure, effectively sealing the valley from multiple directions.
What jumps out is the material movement. Trojena’s leadership said excavation at the lake site had already reached about 3 million cubic meters of rock, with work continuing at around 90,000 cubic meters per week. In U.S. terms, that is roughly 3.9 million cubic yards already dug out, plus about 118,000 cubic yards more each week.
The same statement says the excavated rock is being reused for lakebed lining and dam construction. That kind of reuse can reduce extra quarrying, but the footprint still includes heavy equipment, transport, and a lot of concrete.
Where will the water come from
NEOM says it plans to meet “all its water needs” through desalination powered by renewable energy, and it says 100% of wastewater will be recycled and used for irrigation. Its water division also describes brine processing and “resource recovery” as part of a system meant to reduce harm to the marine ecosystem.
Even if those plans largely hold, water still has to be produced, pumped uphill, stored, and kept clean. NEOM says its future desalination program aims to process up to 1,000,000 cubic meters of water a day within 10 years, which is about 264 million gallons daily.
Then there is evaporation, the silent leak you cannot patch. A major Nature Communications study found that reservoirs contribute a much larger share of global evaporation volume than their share of storage capacity, which is a reminder that open water can vanish quickly in hot, dry conditions.
Hotels, water sports, and an invented ecosystem
NEOM’s hotel announcements help explain why the lake is so central. A 2023 agreement with Marriott includes Saudi Arabia’s first W Hotel, planned with 236 guest rooms, and a JW Marriott that is expected to be built into “The Bow,” a structure integrated with the lake and dam concept.
Minor Hotels has also announced an Anantara resort in Trojena with 270 keys, planned to sit in the Water Village overlooking the lake. Its plans include amenities like an infinity pool, a spa, guided walks around the lake, and a helipad, and Minor Hotels has said Trojena was planned to welcome visitors and residents in late 2026.
It all sounds polished, but the environmental math is not just about guest comfort. A lakefront resort concentrates demand for water, landscaping, cooling, and waste management in a region where natural ecosystems already run on tight margins.
Sustainability claims meet hard physics
Webuild describes the lake as central to an ambition to “sustain and regenerate” the area’s natural environment. That is a big promise, and it is not only about operating the resort with clean electricity once guests arrive.
The climate footprint also sits inside the construction materials. Research published in Nature’s journal Scientific Data notes that cement production accounts for roughly 7% to 8% of global carbon emissions, which matters for any concrete-heavy project unless lower-carbon mixes and supply chains are used at scale.
And there is the everyday energy test that shows up on the electric bill. Desalination, pumping, wastewater treatment, and resort cooling all add demand, even if renewable power is supposed to cover it.
The Winter Games context has shifted
For years, Trojena’s lake plan was tied to the 2029 Asian Winter Games, and earlier official materials described Trojena as the host site. In February 2026, however, the Olympic Council of Asia signed a host city contract for the 2029 event in Almaty, Kazakhstan, moving the Games away from Trojena.
That shift does not automatically stop construction, but it does change the justification story. If Trojena is going to be marketed as “sustainable” long term, the proof points will be measurable and public, like water sourcing, evaporation management, emissions, and wastewater performance.
Now the world will be watching the water math. The official statement was published on Olympic Council of Asia.
