On an ordinary day while participating in your regular routine, such as scrolling on your phone or watching television, you stumble across shocking news that could change the future of your country and the way you live forever. Curiosity builds in your mind as you imagine yourself already there, living in a futuristic world that measures 170 kilometers long, 200 meters wide and 500 meters tall. Does anyone think this is an intelligent idea? Will it be worth it?
On January 10, 2021, The Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, announced a plan for a project called, ¨The Line¨. The Line is a futuristic city designed to solve Saudia Arabia’s urban problems, create new jobs, handle population growth, attract tourists, and reduce the dependence on oil. It’s a portion of the NEOM project, expected to be about the height of the Empire State Building.
The Saudi Arabia Government declared it will fit nine million people and designed to appear as two mirrored parallel walls. There will be no cars and no streets because everything will be within a five-minute walk according to the planners. A train, running the entire line, should take only 20 minutes to travel the length of the line and the builders plan to run the Line entirely on renewable energy.
However, the construction of The Line is paused because the cost is too expensive, not enough investors, and the difficulty of building the design in the hottest desert on earth. This resulted in the layoff of many workers being removed and they’ve decided to build a smaller version of the 170 kilometers city.
Saudia Arabia anticipated a 500 billion dollars budget for the NEOM project, which included The Line. Now, The Line has increased significantly to 8.8 trillion dollars. They’ve already spent 50 billion dollars. Tarik Soloman said, ¨For a project of this scale to succeed, it must adjust to market realities, and it must build trust. ¨
This white elephant does not.
