Photographer: Luke MacGregor / Bloomberg
Photographer: Luke MacGregor / Bloomberg
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has announced his latest plan for Saudi Arabia’s future without oil: a linear city without cars, roads or carbon emissions.
The 170-kilometer (106-mile) development called “The Line” will be part of the $ 500 billion Neom project, the Crown Prince said in a televised speech on Sunday. Construction is expected to begin in the first quarter.
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A news release described The Line as a viable “band of hyper-connected future communities, without cars and roads and built around nature.” The city said that by 2030 the city would have 1 million inhabitants and create 380,000 jobs. The infrastructure will cost between $ 100 and $ 200 billion, the crown prince said.
Neom is a big part of Prince Mohammed’s plan to diversify the economy of the world’s largest crude exporter. Announced in 2017, the project covers more than 10,000 square kilometers in a remote area in the northwest of the country. It is described on its website as ‘a brave and daring dream’ that will become a hub for new technologies and businesses.
The project was plagued by skepticism and controversy since its introduction, including the resistance of residents forced to relocate to make way for construction. Analysts are asking if the plan is realistic and could attract the necessary investments in a region with already established transport and business hubs in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Qatar.
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“The backbone of the investment in The Line comes from the $ 500 billion support to Neom by the Saudi government, PIF and local and global investors over ten years,” the prince told reporters in the city of Al-Ula, with reference to Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.
The announcement shows the extent to which Prince Mohammed is thinking about life after oil for the kingdom, which in 2020 will earn more than half of the government’s revenue from crude.
“Why do we accept the sacrifice of nature for development?” said the prince, referring to rising sea levels and carbon emissions in a way that is rare for a Saudi official.
No trip within The Line will last longer than 20 minutes, he said. According to the statement, the city would be built around ‘ultra-high speed transportation’.
It will also contain one of the world’s largest airports, Nadhmi Al-Nasr, CEO of Neom, said in an interview with the Al-Arabiya television channel. He did not provide a time frame for construction, saying that only the airport would be the last element of The Line.
(Updates with details on airport plan in 10th paragraph, plus additional context in fifth.)