It’s not surprising to hear Saudi Arabia is creating yet another extravagant and ambitious megaproject. We see its cities filled with forward-looking structures seeking to pave the way for an innovative and advanced future. A recent development in Saudi Arabia has gathered plenty of attention and promising potential that has people wondering if this is just another fantasy world.

In the past month, Saudi Arabia has unveiled designs for its impressive urban project “The Line”. As the project name suggests, The Line will be a onebuilding city enclosed by two 500- metre-high mirrored walls. These walls will run in parallel for 170 kilometres over the desert covering a 34 square kilometre footprint.

The Line will harness new technology such as AI and Green Tech to create a sustainable city for the future that runs entirely on renewable energy. With only highspeed trains as the mode of transport, The Line will be completely carbon emission and pollution free. People will be able to ride along the length of The Line in just 20 minutes, as well as travel only five minutes for any daily necessities.

Leading this development is the Crown Prince and Chairman of the NEOM Board of Directors, Mohammed bin Salman, who stated The Line will “challenge the traditional flat, horizontal cities and create a model for nature preservation and enhanced human liveability”. Located near the Red Sea, The Line takes a vastly different approach to the structure of most traditional cities that typically radiate out from a central point.

The Line will contain residential, retail and leisure areas organised in a three-layer system: pedestrian layer, service layer, and spine layer.

The “pedestrian layer” is the surface level where the nine million residents will live and do their daily activities such as work, shop, and wonder. This layer will be filled with greenery and nature allowing 95% of nature to be preserved in the Neom lands.

Below the pedestrian layer is the “service layer” which acts as an invisible layer of infrastructure containing necessities such as electricity, internet, and water networks.

Finally, the “spine layer” provides a mode of transport in the form of high-speed trains as well as a next-generation freight transport system. While this is all great, The Line does feel like a forced living situation with not a lot of choice. Enclosed in a 200 metre wide gap by two glass walls doesn’t seem like the ideal environment where you could easily see yourself craving for that outside world. The Line may feel like a holiday or escape into a fantasy world but in reality, it’s life.

The cost of this megaproject is astronomical and is predicted to cost around $500 billion upon completion. An $80 billion Neom Investment Fund has been set up by Saudi Arabia as well as an initial public offering of the megaproject is being planned in the next couple years. Global investors, Ray Dalio and Tim Collins, have shown interest in the megaproject which may spark some interest from others.

With the first phase of two underway, the megaproject plans to house 1.5 million residents by 2030 with $320 billion in costs. Half of the cost will be covered by the Public Investment fund with the other costs expected to be covered from other sovereign wealth funds in the region, private investors, and the initial public offering on the Saudi Stock Exchange.

By the end of the megaproject, The Line will provide 380,000 job opportunities and is projected to bring over $40 billion into Saudi Arabia’s economy over the next decade. It could be anyone's guess if this long term investment will come out as a positive financial decision. With $500 billion in costs, this is a very gutsy proposition by Sauda Arabia, yet are we still surprised?

Whether or not this megaproject comes to fruition, many people are sceptical yet intrigued, including myself. Although it seems unrealistic, ambitious, and out of this world, this would be a phenomenal achievement that paves the way for future imaginative projects.

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