Photographer: Luke MacGregor / Bloomberg
Photographer: Luke MacGregor / Bloomberg
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced his latest plan for Saudi Arabia’s future beyond oil: a linear city with no cars, roads or carbon emissions.
The 170-kilometer (106-mile) venture called “The Line” will be part of the $ 500 billion Neom project, the Crown Prince said in a televised speech on Sunday. Construction is expected to begin in the first quarter.
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A press release described The Line as a “belt of future hyperconnected communities, without cars and roads and built around nature”. According to the report, the city will have 1 million inhabitants and will create 380,000 jobs by 2030. The infrastructure will cost $ 100 billion to $ 200 billion, said the Crown Prince.
Neom is an important part of Prince Mohammed’s plan to diversify the economy of the world’s largest oil exporter. Announced in 2017, the project covers more than 10,000 square miles in a remote area in the northwest of the country. It is described on its website as “a bold and audacious dream” that will become a hub for new technologies and businesses.
The project was plagued by Skepticism and controversy since its launch, however, including opposition from residents forced to move to make way for construction. Analysts question whether the plan is realistic and can attract the necessary investments in a region that already has well-established transportation and business centers in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Qatar.
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“The backbone of investing in The Line will come from the $ 500 billion support to Neom by the Saudi government, PIF and local and global investors over 10 years,” the prince told reporters in the city of Al-Ula, referring to him to the public of Saudi Arabia Investment Fund.
The announcement shows the extent to which Prince Mohammed is thinking of a life after oil for the kingdom, which earned more than half of the government’s oil revenue in 2020. The project was the first major development to be announced within Neom.
“Why do we accept to sacrifice nature for development?” said the prince, citing rising sea levels and carbon emissions in a rare way for a Saudi official.
No trip on the line will be longer than 20 minutes, he said. The city would be built around “ultra-high-speed traffic,” according to the statement.
It will also contain one of the largest airports in the world, Neom Chief Executive Nadhmi Al-Nasr said in an interview with Al-Arabiya television. He did not provide a deadline for construction, saying that only the airport would be the final element of the Line.
(Updates with details about the airport plan in the 10th paragraph, as well as additional context in the fifth.)