Woah! Saudi Arabia’s New City Will Have No Cars, No Roads; $200 Billion Budget Approved

The Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman has made the first major development announcement, under the kingdom’s vision 2030 of developing the $500bn futuristic megacity project called ‘Neom’.

On Sunday, the Crown Prince launched an ambitious plan to build a 170-km long zero carbon city, with no cars, roads or carbon emissions, called ‘The Line’, in a televised speech/addressal.

Let’s learn more about this.

Project ‘The Line’

Prince Mohammed bin Salman has announced to construct a zero-carbon city, paved on a 170-km straight line development called ‘The Line’.

This development is a part of Saudi Arabia’s strategy of diversification to reduce its reliance on oil and move towards a futuristic approach of living.

The Prince made this announcement on Sunday through a televised speech. It started with a short clip displaying some of human history’s biggest technological advancements over the last century, including the moon landing and the creation of the internet, according to a report.

It proceeded asking, “What’s next?”, which led to the addressal from bin Salman.

In his speech, he mentioned, “Why should we sacrifice nature for the sake of development? Why should seven million people die every year because of pollution?”

He then went on to introduce to the world, his plans about ‘The Line’.

The Line to Generate 380,000 Jobs

With his introduction to The Line, bin Salman shared his vision for the development.

He said the new 170km long city would have “zero cars, zero streets and zero carbon emissions”.

The Line would be a walkable “belt of hyper-connected future communities, without cars and roads and built around nature”, with 1 million habitants.

He further informed that the inhabitants could fulfil all their daily requirements, including education and leisure, within a five-minute walk of home. 

It would be possible to travel from one end of The Line to the other in no more than 20 minutes, made possible by building ultra-high-speed transit solutions.

Construction for the project is expected to start in the Q1 of 2021, while the city is expected to contribute about $48bn (SAR180 billion) to the country’s economy and create about 380,000 jobs by 2030.

Saudi Arabia’s $500 Billion Project ‘Neom’

The $500 billion project ‘Neom’ was announced in 2017, which will cover over 10,000 sq miles in a ‘region in northwest Saudi Arabia on the Red Sea being built from the ground up as a living laboratory’.

As per a press release, Neom will be a destination and a home for people who dream big and want to be part of building a new model for exceptional livability, creating thriving businesses, and reinventing environmental conservation.