The megacity at the heart of Neom is a massive £803bn project by the Saudi Arabian government to create a new metropolis in the middle of the desert, however, it is already facing problems.
Comprising two 170km stretches of building work, it has been dubbed ‘The Line’ and could become home to 300,000 people by 2030.
Each of the 170km long skyscrapers is planned to be 500 metres tall and is the brainchild of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Although this is down on the 1.5million inhabitants originally envisaged, it is still a large number of people moving into a city that is one of the most ambitious projects of its kind.
When it is finished, The Line will allegedly feature flying taxis and domesticated robots to help with household chores.
However, like all great engineering projects, there are fears that The Line could be facing the first of some delays.
Le Figaro reported that the project is already facing delays as well as a downgrading in the number of people due to live in the completed city. One investor has allegedly started to fire some of the people helping to build the project.
Furthermore, some experts have questioned whether it is even possible and if these first delays are the first of many for the urban mega project.
The Guardian reported that some people who used to work on the project have claimed it is “untethered from reality”.
Furthermore, it has been revealed that the overall budget for the Neom project has yet to be finalised by the Saudi Arabian government, leaving many uncertain as to the final cost of The Line.
Although it has been pitched as the future of urban planning, one which could transform how people view and design cities, there is growing uncertainty over its feasibility.
Following the presentation of the project in 2022, the Arab Gulf States Institute’s Robert Mogielnicki summed up the changeable nature of the project.
He told the Mail: “The concept has morphed so much from its early conception that it’s sometimes hard to determine its direction: scaling down, scaling up, or making an aggressive turn sideways.”
