These incredible photos show Saudi Arabia’s stunning £800 billion Neom megacity development.
The project aims to build a slap bang solar powered glass city in the middle of the desert.
Also known as The Line, it aims to create a 75-mile long futuristic city that prioritizes pedestrians and green space while minimizing environmental impact.
Once completed, it is set to feature towering skyscrapers, an artificial mountain and ski resort, an octagonal floating harbor, a dedicated swimming lane for commuters as well as a network of AI and robots designed to serve its ultra-wealthy citizens.
Other features include Xaynor, a members-only beach club, which aims to attract ‘a unique community of the world’s most fascinating people’, a luxury golf resort and a series of glass apartments suspended from giant outcroppings on the destination’s sand. to ‘offer a point of contact between man and nature’.
This project is one of several futuristic megacities designed to meet 1% in the new year, which has met with mixed results and reception.
In 2020, the Malaysian government announced plans to create a futuristic island off the coast of Penang Island, which is said to have self-driving public transport, palm-lined canals and beautiful white buildings.
But the project was met with fierce backlash from local fishermen, who claimed the project would destroy their livelihoods and reduce fish populations in the area.
To make matters worse, it is hot on the heels of the failure of Forest City, a £78billion project intended to house one million residents on a reclaimed island that is quickly being abandoned and turned into a ghost town.
The government eventually scaled back the plan and awarded the fishermen huge compensation for the loss of income.
Another futuristic megacity is also underway in Japan, as automotive giant Toyota seeks to create a sustainable utopian city at the foot of an active Japanese volcano.
First announced in 2021, Toyota has been hard at work building the Woven City just a few miles from Mount Fuji on the island of Honshū, with 2,000 residents now anticipated to move in before the end of the year.
Giles Pendleton, COO for The Line, shared the image from above in response to ‘naysayers’ who doubted the grand plan would become a reality.
The image shows a huge excavation line stretching for miles etched into the landscape where it is set to be built.
‘Neom is real, part 12,’ Mr. Pendleton wrote of the latest snaps where a huge mountain of sand can be seen piled up to make space to plan a ‘hidden marina’.
He said, ‘How do you answer the naysayers about the incredible work you are doing at Neom?
‘Show a cross section of the world’s largest building site from mountain to sea.
‘Massive excavations in The Line, the future of island resorts in Sindalah and the next generation of ports and logistics in Oxagon.’
Creators hope that nine million people will live in the city, which will have two 1,600-foot tall mirrored buildings with an outdoor space between them, making it the 12th tallest building in the world – and the third tallest in Saudi Arabia.
The futuristic design plan includes trees climbing through the sprawling metropolis with artistic architecture in a city that is supposed to be powered by renewable energy.
Pendleton said more than 100 million cubic yards of sand have been moved.
Bin Salman said he wanted the construction of The Line to be as beautiful and lasting as the Egyptian Pyramids, as well as ‘putting people first’.
The ambitious prince hopes construction will be completed by 2030, but engineers warn it could take up to 50 years.
He also wants Neom as a whole to create thousands of new jobs and allow the nation to become less dependent on oil for wealth.
Some estimates suggest the overall cost of The Line, which will also be a sports stadium 1,000ft above ground, could reach nearly £800bn ($1trillion).
Investments from foreign countries can be a sticking point for progress, but many western countries continue to boycott Saudi Arabia because of human rights violations.
Neom also faced criticism for forcibly removing tribes from the area, while security forces were accused of shooting dead residents.
To add to the ethical battle facing project leaders, bird experts warn that The Line will become a ‘death trap’ for millions of migrating birds.
Conservationists say it would create a deadly barrier for birds that migrate between Europe and Africa each year.
‘Birds flying into tall windows is a serious problem, and this is a 500m tall building across Saudi Arabia, with a windmill on top,’ professor William Sutherland, director of research at Cambridge University’s department of zoology, told The Times.
‘It’s also like a mirror so you can’t see. So, unless they do something, there is a serious risk that there could be a lot of damage to migratory birds.’
This article was originally published on February 7, 2024.
Contact the news team by emailing webnews@metro.co.uk.
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