Photographer: Luke MacGregor / Bloomberg
Photographer: Luke MacGregor / Bloomberg
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman unveiled his latest vision of Saudi Arabia’s future beyond oil: a city without cars, roads or CO2 emissions.
The 170-kilometer (106-mile) development called “The Line” will be part of the $ 500 billion project called “Neom,” the Crown Prince said in a televised address on Sunday. Construction is expected to start in the first quarter.
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A press release described The Line as a walkable “belt of hyper-connected future communities, without cars and roads and built around nature.” It said the city would have a population of 1 million and create 380,000 jobs by 2030. The infrastructure will cost $ 100 to $ 200 billion, the crown prince said.
Neom is the crown jewel of Prince Mohammed’s plan to diversify the economy of the world’s largest crude oil exporter. Announced in 2017, the project covers more than 10,000 square miles in a remote area in the northwest of the country. It is described on its website as “a bold and daring dream” that will become a hub for new technologies and businesses.
The project is plagued by skepticism and political controversy since its launch. Analysts wonder if it is realistic and can attract the necessary investment.
“The backbone of the investment in The Line will come from $ 500 billion in support of Neom by the Saudi government, PIF and local and global investors over 10 years,” the prince told reporters in Al-Ula, referring to the Public Investment. Fund of Saudi Arabia.
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The announcement on Sunday shows Prince Mohammed’s thinking about life after oil for the kingdom, which earned more than half of government revenues from crude oil in 2020. The project was the first major development to be announced within Neom.
“Why do we accept sacrificing nature for development?” the prince said, citing rising sea levels and carbon emissions in a way that is rare for a Saudi official. The city, he said, would be a “revolution for humanity” with “zero cars, zero streets, zero emissions.”
No journey within The Line will take longer than 20 minutes, he said. According to the statement, the city would be built around “ultra-fast transit and autonomous mobility solutions”.
(Updates with comments in the fifth paragraph adds the cost of the project in the second place.)