Kathmandu, May 14 -- Jayaram Rai went to Saudi Arabia to build the city of the future. He came back carrying his own uncertain one.

For sixteen months, the 37-year-old from Khotang district worked scaffolding on Trojena, the ski village being carved into the mountains of northwest Saudi Arabia as part of the $500 billion Neom megaproject - Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's audacious bid to transform a petrostate into a global destination for tourism, technology, and green energy. On March 27, construction halted. On April 29, eight months before his contract was due to expire, Rai packed his bags and flew home.

"We went to build the city of the future," he said. "We came back with our own futures in the dark."

He is far from alone. Ro...