Featured Image Credit: NEOM
Topics: Saudi Arabia, The Line, Technology, World News
William Morgan
The absurd but eye-catching $1 trillion plan to build a megacity in a straight line through Saudi Arabia's desert has been revamped and scaled back, in a major step down for the oil-rich Gulf state.
Called 'The Line', the futuristic project announced in 2021 was set to be a 100-mile long, 200-meter wide, self-contained city that stretched from the Red Sea into Saudi Arabia's arid interior, with all basic services just a five-minute walk for its residents.
The Line formed the centerpiece of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's future-focused Neom project, which aimed to diversify the wealthy petrostate's assets through a massive investment in infrastructure and tourism schemes.
But after beginning with a $500 billion budget in 2017, officials have raised concerns that costs incurred by The Line and the wider Neom scheme have escalated significantly with some estimates reaching $8 trillion to complete all parts of the ambitious project.
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Speaking at an investment forum in the country's capital, Riyadh, a government official admitted in November: “We rushed at 100 miles an hour. We are now running deficits. We need to reprioritise."
Regime sources speaking to the Financial Times have shared that the crown prince is now envisioning something 'far smaller' than the planned 110-mile megacity, as a result of spiralling consultancy and construction costs.
The publication estimates that the Saudis spent as much as $50 billion on The Line before deciding to radically alter their planned city, which is now set to become a massive data center to take advantage of the small part of the project has been built on the Red Sea.
"The Line will be a totally different concept. It will use the existing infrastructure in a totally different manner," the FT source added.
They further explained that the wider Neom project is no longer about investing in the country's social or cultural sectors, but focusing on how Saudi Arabia can develop modern industries and take advantage of the AI boom.
"Data centres need water cooling and this is right on the coast so it will have seawater cooling. So it will be a major centre for data centres," they added.
The first of Neom's projects was finished in October 2024, a yachting resort called Sindalah that opened three years behind schedule and three times over its original budget. Despite its extravagant opening ceremony featuring Will Smith and Alicia Keys, the Crown Prince was reportedly unimpressed with the expensive development, later firing Neom chief executive Nadhmi al-Nasr.