Saudi Arabia has been forced to scale back its $1.5 trillion plans for a 170 kilometer linear desert city, according to reports, in a humiliating decision for the kingdom.
The Line – part of the country’s bold and futuristic NEOM project – was planned to house around 1.5 million residents by the end of the decade.
By 2030, the project will be just 1.5 miles long and house fewer than 300,000 residents, according to people familiar with the project.
As a result of budget cuts to The Line’s construction, at least one contractor has begun laying off workers it employs on the site, Bloomberg reports.
Stunning concept images released by the kingdom in 2022 showed a massive, mirrored structure cutting through the desert near crystal blue ocean waters.
Saudi Arabia has been forced to scale back its $1.5 trillion plans for a 170-kilometer linear desert city (shown in concept images), according to reports, in a humiliating decision for the kingdom.
The Line – part of the country’s bold and futuristic NEOM project – was expected to house 1.5 million residents by the end of the decade
It is one of several developments that are part of the country’s NEOM project, which also includes an industrial city, ports and tourist developments.
But The Line was the jewel in Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030 project, which was set in motion to diversify his country’s oil-dependent economy, as well as its society and culture, and improve its image on the world stage.
The Kingdom said the project, expected to cost $1.5 trillion, would be an “unprecedented living experience” that would preserve the “surrounding nature.”
The megacity would have two parallel skyscrapers stretching across a strip of desert and mountain terrain, with mirrored facades on the outside.
Saudi officials said it would be built in phases and eventually cover a 170 kilometer stretch of desert along the Red Sea coast in the western province of Tabuk.
However, Bloomberg reports that these plans have now been dramatically scaled back, with the 106 mile structure reduced to just 2.4 miles.
It’s not clear whether it will still include the two skyscrapers seen in the concept images, or whether the entire project will have to be rethought.
Citing sources, the publication reports that Saudi Arabia has not yet approved NEOM’s 2024 budget, and the massive expenditure is beginning to worry officials.
Some projects outlined in the Vision 2030 are expected to be postponed as early as the end of the decade, with Finance Minister Mohammed Al Jadaan saying in December that more time is needed to “build factories” and “sufficient human resources ‘.
“The delay or rather the extension of some projects will serve the economy,” he said.
NEOM was first announced in 2017, when Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (pictured) gave a presentation on The Line in July 2022
NEOM was first announced in 2017, when Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman gave a presentation on The Line in July 2022.
It has consistently raised eyebrows at proposed developments such as flying taxis and robot girls, even as architects and economists have questioned their feasibility.
Measuring just 200 meters wide, The Line is intended as Saudi Arabia’s answer to uncontrolled and wasteful urban sprawl, with houses, schools and parks being piled on top of each other in what planners call ‘Zero Gravity Urbanism’.
Promotional material says residents can reach “all daily needs” within a five-minute walk, while also having access to other benefits such as outdoor skiing facilities and “a high-speed rail line with 20-minute end-to-end transit.”
In his presentation, Prince Mohammed outlined an even more ambitious vision, describing a car-free utopia that would become the most liveable city in the world.
However, analysts noted at the time that plans for NEOM have changed course over the years, raising questions about whether The Line will ever become a reality.
Pictured: Concept art from the inside of Saudi Arabia’s The Line megacity
Measuring just 200 meters wide, The Line is intended as Saudi Arabia’s answer to uncontrolled and wasteful urban sprawl, with houses, schools and parks being piled on top of each other in what planners call ‘Zero Gravity Urbanism’.
The Line’s massive construction would extend from the heart of another planned Red Sea megacity – a plank of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s plan to diversify the Gulf state’s oil-dependent economy – to the ocean.
NEOM was once touted as a regional “Silicon Valley,” a biotech and digital hub spanning 10,000 square miles.
Now it is a means to reshape city life on a footprint of just 34 square kilometers, and to address what Prince Mohammed describes as “liveability and environmental crises.”
“The concept has changed so much since its early conception that it is sometimes difficult to determine its direction: downsize, scale up or make an aggressive sideways turn,” said Robert Mogielnicki of the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, after the presentation in Washington. 2022.
Officials had previously said NEOM’s population would exceed one million, but Prince Mohammed said the number would reach 1.2 million by 2030 before rising to nine million by 2045.
A promotional video released by the Kingdom suggested that nine million people could live in The Line at full capacity.
The eye-popping total is part of a hoped-for nationwide population boom that Prince Mohammed says would be necessary to turn Saudi Arabia – the world’s largest crude oil exporter – into an economic powerhouse.
The 2030 target is for 50 million people – half Saudis and half foreigners – to live in the kingdom, up from around 34 million now.
By 2040, the goal is 100 million people, he said in 2022.
“That’s the main goal of building NEOM, to increase Saudi Arabia’s capacity and get more citizens and more people into Saudi Arabia. And since we’re doing it from scratch, why copy normal cities?’
The location will be powered by 100 percent renewable energy and feature “a year-round temperate microclimate with natural ventilation,” according to the promotional video.
Residents of the project would be able to reach “all daily needs” within a five-minute walk, while also having access to other benefits such as outdoor skiing facilities and “a high-speed rail line with 20-minute end-to-end transit.” ‘
A promotional video released by the Kingdom suggested that nine million people could live in The Line at full capacity (depicted in concept art).
The feasibility of the project had long been questioned.
Architect and urban planner Etienne Bou-Abdo said last year about the concept images: “the 3D images presented are not classic 3D architectural images,” and the project’s designers “have previously called on video game designers.”
He stated that the plan includes “a lot of technology that we don’t have today.”
Some of The Line’s key features, especially those related to energy and transportation, are based on technologies that do not exist even in prototype form.
