The Crown Prince on a televised speech on Sunday said, the 170 kilometer-long development called "The Line" will be part of the $500 billion project called "Neom," construction of which is planned to start in the first quarter.
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According to MBS, "The Line" is a walkable "belt of hyper-connected future communities, without cars and roads and built around nature. He said the city would have 1 million residents and create 380,000 jobs by 2030. The infrastructure will cost $100 billion to $200 billion.
Neom, a dream project of the MBS, through which he plans to expand the economy over oil, as Saudi Arabia is the world’s largest crude oil exporter. The project was announced in 2017, spans more than 10,000 square miles in the country’s northwest. The massive project has been described as "a bold and audacious dream" that will become a hub for new technologies and businesses.
"The backbone of investment in The Line will come from the $500 billion support to Neom by the Saudi government, PIF and local and global investors over 10 years," the prince told the media.
The announcement of “The Line”, shows ambitious plans of MBS to pull the country from its reliance on oil, which earned over half of government revenue from crude in 2020
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The Line project is one of the first major development to be announced within Neom.
"Why do we accept sacrificing nature for development?" the prince said, citing rising sea levels and carbon emissions in a manner rare for a Saudi official. The city, he said, would be a "revolution for mankind" with "zero cars, zero streets, zero emissions."
No journey within The Line will be longer than 20 minutes, he said. The city would be built around "ultra-high-speed transit and autonomous mobility solutions," according to the statement.