Featured Image Credit: NEOM
Topics: Saudi Arabia, The Line, Money
Joe Yates
Saudi Arabia's futuristic megacity without the need of cars is set to cost an eye-watering $1 trillion - and the country has already spent a huge amount building it.
Seven years have passed since the country decided to create Neom, the city will run solely on renewable energy with no need of roads.
It is part of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman's policy programme Vision 2030.
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Vision 2030 is a programme to diversify Saudi Arabia's economy, including reducing the kingdom's economic dependance on oil.
Construction is underway on The Line, a city which will sit on the coast of the Red Sea, and it will be a single 170km-long and 200m wide city, without cars.
Access will primarily be through a train running back and forth down its center, carrying residents from one end to the other.
A description of The Line on Neom's website reads: "No roads, cars or emissions, it will run on 100% renewable energy and 95% of land will be preserved for nature.
"People's health and wellbeing will be prioritized over transportation and infrastructure, unlike traditional cities."
The revolutionary megacity has already received $28.7 billion, Bloomberg reports, with the majority of that going towards the streamline city The Line.
Just a small drop in the ocean with those behind the plans believing the total project could rack up to a staggering $1.5 trillion - while official documents estimated it would come in at $500 billion.
To put it all into comparison, UK-based charity Oxfam estimated it would cost around $23 billion to fight extreme hunger with another $14 billion on top of that to combat chronic hunger.
Although, the World Bank is currently working to tackle the hunger crisis pledging $45 billion to do so this year.
Vision 2030 has so far cost the kingdom $1.3 trillion.
Real estate and infrastructure project investment rose by four percent in a single year real estate consultancy Knight Frank told Bloomberg.
Speaking in 2022 the Crown Prince, who is the de-facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, said: “We cannot ignore the liveability and environmental crises facing our world’s cities, and NEOM is at the forefront of delivering new and imaginative solutions to address these issues."
He had originally planned to host nine million people in the city by 2030, but Bloomberg has reported that this estimate has been scaled back and just 300,000 people are currently set to live there by then.