A vast area of desert in Saudi Arabia is host to the world’s biggest construction project where more than £370 billion is being ploughed into turning the sand into a futuristic landscape.
NEOM is a over 10,000 square miles and developers want to fill it with wonders including a city running 105 miles in a straight line, billions of trees and levitating trains.
In perhaps the world’s most ambitious construction project, NEOM is transforming a country-sized scale area of land into almost an entirely new country, as it’s planned the area will be governed by an autonomous legal system “drafted by investors”.
Ali Shihabi, a former banker now on NEOM’s advisory board, told the BBC the futuristic The Line city would be the crowning glory of the project.
He said: “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 added that The Line will house everyone “from labourers to billionaires” and that the design is not just a “rich man’s toy”.
One of the richest and most powerful men in Saudi Arabia is the de-facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. He has said NEOM and The Line was the beginning of a “journey to a greener future” for his oil-rich nation.
Industry website Designboom reports The Line will be 1,640 feet high and 2,132 feet wide, or the equivalent of more than two Eiffel Towers across.
The aim is reportedly to house more than nine million people in the city which will be entirely powered by renewable sources.
NEOM’s director of urban planning Tarek Qaddumi told the website NEOM would have roughly the same population as London but cover a tiny amount of the area.
He said: “This new approach reduces The Line’s physical footprint to two percent of that of a conventional city of a similar population.
“London currently sits at about 1600 km2 compared to 34 km2 of The Line for the same population of approximately 9 million.”
Mr Qaddumi added that the mirrored exterior of The Line will allow “naturally allow sunlight in through the sides of the city in addition to the light received directly from above”.
