A colossal £370 billion is being invested into the world’s largest construction project, transforming a vast desert area in Saudi Arabia into a futuristic landscape.
The project, known as NEOM, spans over 10,000 square miles and plans are underway to fill it with marvels such as a city stretching 105 miles in a straight line, billions of trees, and levitating trains. The total cost of the entire project is expected to exceed £1.18 trillion.
In what could be the most ambitious construction project ever undertaken, NEOM aims to transform a country-sized area into almost an entirely new nation, governed by an autonomous legal system “drafted by investors”. Ali Shihabi, a former banker now serving on NEOM’s advisory board, told the BBC that the futuristic city dubbed The Line, would be the jewel in the crown of the project.
He stated: “People say this is some crazy project that’s going to cost gazillions, but it’s going to be built module by module, in a manner that meets demand.”
He further added that The Line will accommodate everyone “from labourers to billionaires” and insisted that the design is not merely a “rich man’s toy”. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, one of the wealthiest and most influential men in Saudi Arabia, has declared that NEOM and The Line mark the start of a “journey to a greener future” for his oil-rich nation.
According to industry website Designboom, The Line will stand at 1,640 feet high and stretch 2,132 feet wide, equivalent to more than two Eiffel Towers laid end to end.
The ambitious goal is to accommodate more than nine million inhabitants in a fully renewable energy-powered urban marvel.
NEOM’s director of urban planning, Tarek Qaddumi, revealed to the website that NEOM will host a population similar to that of London but occupy a significantly smaller land area.
Qaddumi explained: “This new approach reduces The Line’s physical footprint to two percent of that of a conventional city of a similar population.”
He also noted: “London currently sits at about 1600 km2 compared to 34 km2 of The Line for the same population of approximately 9 million.”
Furthermore, Mr. Qaddumi highlighted that The Line’s reflective surface design is not just for aesthetics, saying it will “naturally allow sunlight in through the sides of the city in addition to the light received directly from above”.
