Photographer: Luke MacGregor / Bloomberg
Photographer: Luke MacGregor / Bloomberg
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced his latest plan for the future of Saudi Arabia beyond oil: a linear city with no cars, roads or carbon emissions.
The 170-kilometer (106-mile) development called “The Line” will be part of the $ 500 billion Neom project, the Crown Prince said in a televised speech Sunday. Construction is scheduled to begin in the first quarter.
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A press release described The Line as a “belt of hyperconnected future communities, with no cars or roads and built around nature.” He said the city would have one million residents and create 380,000 jobs by 2030. The infrastructure will cost between $ 100 and $ 200 billion, the Crown Prince said.
Neom is an important part of Prince Mohammed’s plan to diversify the economy of the world’s leading oil exporter. Announced in 2017, the project covers more than 10,000 square kilometers in a remote area of the northwest of the country. It is described on its website as “a bold, bold dream” that will become a hub for new technologies and businesses.
The project has been affected by skepticism and controversy since its launch, however, included opposition from residents forced to move to make way for construction. Analysts wonder if the plan is realistic and can attract the necessary investment in a region that already has established transport and business centers in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Qatar.
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“The backbone of the investment in The Line will come from the $ 500 million support to Neom by the Saudi government, the PIF and local and global investors for ten years,” the prince told reporters in the city of Al-Ula, in reference to the Saudi Public Hearing. Investment fund.
The announcement shows the extent to which Prince Mohammed is thinking about life after oil for the kingdom, which earned more than half of government revenue from crude oil in 2020. The project was the first major development announced in Neom .
“Why do we agree to sacrifice nature for development?” said the prince, citing sea level rise and carbon emissions in a rare way for a Saudi official.
No trip within the line will exceed 20 minutes, he said. According to the statement, the city would be built around “ultra-high-speed traffic.”
It will also contain one of the largest airports in the world, said Nadhmi Al-Nasr, CEO of Neom, in an interview with Al-Arabiya TV channel. He did not provide a deadline for construction, saying only the airport would be the end element of The Line.
(Updates with details on the airport plan in paragraph 10, in addition to the additional context in the fifth paragraph.)