Drone Footage Reveals What Saudi Arabia’s Line Giga-Project Looks Like

The Line, Saudi Arabia’s 170-kilometer-long (105 miles) mega mirror city being constructed in the desert in Neom, is progressing. It is just one of a suite of giga-projects, either completed or currently being worked on in the region

What Will The Line in Saudi Arabia Entail?

The megacity, designed to house nine million people and due to be completed in 2030 at the cost of around 500 billion to 1 trillion dollars, is currently under construction. The end result will be a 170-km-long and 200-meter-wide mirrored skyscraper lying on its side.

Saudi Arabia claims the high-speed rail will take citizens from one end of the city to the other. There are plans to have no roads, traffic, or pollution present on-site. It also aims to gather much more data about residents and services than other so-called smart cities do.

 

Neom, the New Urban Area

Neom, the name of the new urban areas where the structure is being built, lies in the northwestern Tabuk Province, north of the Red Sea, east of Egypt across the Gulf of Aqaba, and south of Jordan. The total planned area of Neom is 26,500 kilometers.

The X (Twitter) account named NEOM, shared an update video late last year showing construction work taking place on The Line, mostly of excavation being carried out to allow space for the foundation to be built. The video also showcases NEOM’s other projects, including a floating industrial complex, global trade hub, and tourist resorts.

With a big aviation focus, Neom plans to have four airports to connect it internationally. Currently, there are direct flights from Neom Bay Airport to Dubai International and London Heathrow.

Our latest progress film showcases #NEOM's rapid development.

With major infrastructure milestones already reached, construction of regions THE LINE, @NEOMOxagon, @NEOMSindalah and @NEOMTrojena is moving forward quickly 🏗️👷

Watch the full film now at https://t.co/qVn8yJ8c5x pic.twitter.com/Btpm87eqEM

— NEOM (@NEOM) October 11, 2023

Since 2021, Neom has been working on a collaborative venture with Volocopter, a German company designing electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing aircraft, known as ‘flying taxis.‘ Aircraft is powered by batteries, and Neom had ordered fifteen of them. It also invested 175 million dollars into Volocopter’s Series E funding round in late 2022.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Saudi Arabia has been borrowing money to help fund the ambitious projects in Neom, including the renewable energy-powered, desert-dwelling megacity The Line, as the country allegedly seeks to move away from fossil fuels and become a global hub for technology and innovation.

The Saudi sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund, is reportedly providing funding for the significant “gigaprojects” estimated to cost tens of billions of dollars.
Giles Pendleton, chief operating officer for The Line, took to LinkedIn to share some aerial shots of the giant city in its early preparation phase, writing, “How to answer the naysayers about the incredible work being done in Neom? Show a cross section of the world’s largest building site from the mountains to the sea.”