Neom's board of directors announced on Tuesday the appointment of Aiman Al-Mudaifer as acting CEO of the company following the unexpected departure of Nadhmi Al-Nasr, who was put in charge of the project in 2018.

DUBAI/RIYADH (Reuters) -Nadhmi al-Nasr, the long-time chief executive of the $500 billion NEOM mega-project at the heart of Saudi Arabia's drive to diversify away from oil, has departed, NEOM said on Tuesday without giving a reason.

Saudi Arabia announced Tuesday that it was replacing the chief executive of its futuristic mega-city NEOM as scepticism mounts over the Gulf kingdom's most ambitious development projects.

Gensler, Mott MacDonald and DMAA are contributing planning, design and engineering services for the first 2.4 km of the planned 170-km-long urban megaproject in Saudi Arabia.

The departure of the longtime CEO marks a major shakeup at Neom, which is a showpiece of Riyadh’s economic ambitions.

The chief executive of Neom, Saudi Arabia’s $500 billion (NZ$850b) futuristic development in the desert, has been abruptly replaced after six years in charge of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s flagship project.