Miracle city “The Line”: Saudis are apparently scaling back plans

Neom
Miracle city “The Line” in trouble: Saudis are apparently scaling back plans

The colossal project “The Line” has repeatedly left mouths open over the past two years: Saudi Arabia wanted to build a linear city for 1.5 million people in the desert by 2030. But it seems as if the building was too ambitious.

Neom is Saudi Arabia’s flagship project. Under the leadership of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, several gigantic construction projects are to be built within a very short time and put the country on economically sustainable pillars – for a time after oil, so to speak. In addition to a seaport and two luxurious holiday resorts, the linear metropolis “The Line” attracted worldwide attention.

The original plan called for a so-called ribbon city with a length of 170 kilometers, which would one day offer space for up to nine million people in the middle of the desert – sustainable and protected from climatic changes in the environment.

Desert town “The Line” is not growing fast enough

The project was first presented at the beginning of 2021, and construction work began just a few months later. Saudi Arabia repeatedly provided insights into the progress of the building and wanted to show how serious they really are about the gigantic construction. Quite a few architects and experts doubted whether it would be possible to build such a city in such a short time – or at all. An important milestone was originally supposed to be achieved at the end of the decade.

Now reported “Bloomberg” citing anonymous sources that the plans could actually have been too ambitious. Because instead of offering living space for 1.5 million people by 2030 (a little less than Hamburg), “only” 300,000 people are supposed to settle there initially This is mainly because “The Line” will apparently not be long enough to reach the planned number of inhabitants by the end of the decade. It is said that in the next six years only 2.4 of the planned 170 kilometers can be covered The fact that “The Line” was to be created in several stages was communicated several times – but the size of the individual sections was apparently overestimated.

Is the 2045 goal realistic?

A document available to “Bloomberg” shows that at least one building contractor has already begun layoffs. Representatives of Neom and the kingdom’s public investment fund did not respond to a request for comment, the business daily said. The reduction in the workforce is particularly astonishing because Finance Minister Mohammed Al Jadaan recently stated that the speed of construction work depends primarily on manpower and supplying factories.

It is questionable whether completion by 2045 is realistic at the current pace. Originally, “The Line” was supposed to be able to accommodate the nine million people in question and be essentially finished. Estimates put the total cost of the desert band city at up to $1 trillion. The Saudi Arabian government estimates a total investment of $1.5 trillion for all Neom projects.