The works of the megacity The Line of Saudi Arabia They continue to link the desert with the Gulf of Aqaba and, initially, the first phase of the project is expected to be completed in 2030. However, in mid-April, it came to light that said construction suffered a budget cut because the investors lowered certain forecasts, such as the number of citizens who will inhabit the city and the promised kilometers of the project.
Despite these cuts, which mainly affect the possible population that can live in The Line, going from a population of 1.5 million people to around 300,000, There are already several people who are living in said megaconstruction. Specifically, the vlogger Jessica Herman has shared on TikTok What is life like in Neom? and, as can be seen in the video below, it shows built streets, prefabricated houses, restaurants where you can already eat and environments with little vegetation.
This video shared on the social network X (formerly Twitter) has been showered with criticism. Some of the answers are: “It’s nothing like a place anyone in their right mind would want to live the rest of their life.”“what’s the point of this weird community if you don’t even hang out with people?”, “I felt like I was watching a video of a colony on Mars”, “is this supposed to convince people to go to work?” to the desert in a penal colony?”, “this is not the flex she seems to think it is”, or “This is the stuff of nightmares”.
More construction setbacks arise
Apart from the cuts in population and kilometers, The Line has been left without its desalination plant which promised to supply 30% of the planned water needs, although, as if that were not enough, another setback jeopardizes the megacity being ready within six years.
According to the ShippingWatch newspaper, the ten billion dollar deal with the Danish shipping company DSV was delayed for lack of regulatory approvalstaking into account that said entity is still waiting for Saudi Arabia and Egypt to give the green light to the development of transportation in the megacity. However, a person associated with the Government spoke to the BBC and told the outlet that these approvals “are based on multiple factors”, adding that “there is no doubt that there will be a recalibration”. Likewise, people familiar with the project point out to the same newspaper that “developers are focused on completing 2.7 kilometers of the linear city by 2030.”
A very expensive megacity to build
The Public Investment Fund (PIF) is responsible for financing the megacity of Saudi Arabia. Initially, the official cost to build Neom was $500 billion, but analysts consider that the Complete construction costs more than two billion dollars.
In the end, the high cost of the project means that architects and engineers have to reduce forecasts and reevaluate the proposal. Furthermore, the cut in the number of inhabitants and kilometers represents a slowdown in the construction of the necessary infrastructure.
