Shaheer Ahmed
Saudi Arabia has a lot to offer from the future to the world at present. Sounds confusing, right? Saudi Arabia is taking all the steps to make the Kingdom a Kingdom for real. A new idea is being incorporated to the already futuristic city of NEOM. Saudi Arabia unveils mirrored skyscraper megacity which will give the world a glimpse into the future.
NEOM is a Saudi City built in the Tabuk province. The city will be an epitome of modern technology. NEOM is spread over 10,000 sq miles and also once famed as regional ‘silicon valley.’ The new project that has been recently announced is said to be the heart of NEOM. A 100 mile long parallel structures of mirrored skyscraper megacity. This megacity is named The Line.
The crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has big plans for the Kingdom. To bring diversity and advancement are at the center of these plans. According to one statement “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.”
The plan presented for the new city is close to idealism than to practicality. The Line would be like a dream land. The following are some of its revealed features
- A car-free utopia
- The city will rely completely on renewable energy resources.
- It will host world largest green hydrogen plant
- A high-speed rail with an end-to-end transit of 20 minutes
- All the facilities of life would be easily accessible to the residents
There is much more to the plan that is still being planned. One of the purposes of building NEOM are to raise the population of the country. According to one statement “That’s the main purpose of building NEOM, to raise the capacity of Saudi Arabia, get more citizens and more people in Saudi Arabia. And since we are doing it from nothing, why should we copy normal cities?”
Although this all just sounds WOW. However, the execution is still years away. With everything in place, the only thing left is the funding. According to the Prince ‘The “first phase” of the project, lasting until 2030, will cost 1.2 trillion Saudi riyals (roughly $319 billion).’
It would be hard for people to invest in such a high tech product that they are not sure will be a success. Torbjorn Soltvedt of risk intelligence company Verisk Maplecroft said “But the feasibility of NEOM as a whole is still unclear given the unprecedented scale and cost of the project.’
