The Line: Saudi Arabia unveils city with no roads, cars
The Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, has unveiled plans for a future city 'The Line,' which is part of the $500 billion project called "Neom." The city will have no cars, roads, or carbon emissions and is aimed at showing "how people and planet can co-exist in harmony," the Crown Prince said in a televised speech on Sunday.
The 170 kilometer-long project is set to create 3,80,000 jobs by 2030 in Saudi Arabia, the Crown Prince said. Construction is planned to start in the first quarter and once the city is complete, it is expected to contribute $48 billion to the Saudi economy, he said. The city would be built around "ultra-high-speed transit and autonomous mobility solutions."
According to a statement, The Line will be a walkable "belt of hyper-connected future communities, without cars and roads and built around nature." The city will eventually have one million residents, the Crown Prince said, and the infrastructure will cost $100 billion to $200 billion. No journey within The Line will be longer than 20 minutes, the statement added.
The Crown Prince said, "The backbone of investment in The Line will come from the $500 billion support to Neom by the Saudi government, PIF, and local and global investors over 10 years." It would be a "revolution for mankind" with "zero cars, zero streets, zero emissions." "Why do we accept sacrificing nature for development?" he added, citing rising sea levels and carbon emissions.
Neom is the Crown Prince's plan to diversify the Kingdom's economy, which is largely dependent on oil. Saudi Arabia earned over half of the government revenue from crude in 2020. The project, announced in 2017, spans over 10,000 square miles in a remote area of the country's northwest. According to the website, the project has been described as a "bold and audacious dream."
