(MENAFN-AFP)
A futuristic Saudi megacity will come with two skyscrapers stretching along a strip of desert and mountainous terrain, according to the latest revelations about allocation through the kingdom’s de facto ruler.
Parallel structures of mirror-covered skyscrapers stretching 170 kilometers (more than a hundred miles), collectively known as The Line, shape the center of the Red Sea megacity NEOM, a plank of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s attempt to diversify the Gulf state’s oil-dependent economy.
First announced in 2017, NEOM has consistently drawn attention to proposed luxuries like flying taxis and domestic robots, even when architects and economists have their viability.
In a presentation Monday night, Prince Mohammed outlined an even more ambitious vision, describing a car-free utopia that would be “by far” the most livable city on the planet.
Analysts noted, however, that plans for NEOM have replaced the course over the years, fueling doubts about whether The Line will ever be a reality.
NEOM, a virtual and biotechnology hub stretching over 26,500 square kilometers (10,000 square miles), once touted as a regional “Silicon Valley. “
Now it’s about reinventing urban life on an area of just 34 square kilometers and responding to what Prince Mohammed describes as “the crisis of livability and the environment. “
“The concept has replaced so much since its initial conception that it is difficult to determine its direction: reduce, increase or make a competitive shift to one side,” said Robert Mogielnicki of the Gulf Arab States Institute in Washington.
– Demographic –
Officials had said in the past that NEOM’s population would exceed one million, but Prince Mohammed said that number would reach 1. 2 million by 2030 before rising to nine million by 2045.
The staggering total is part of an expected boom in the national population that Prince Mohammed said would make Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest crude exporter, an economic powerhouse.
The goal by 2030 is to have another 50 million people, part Saudi and part foreign, living in the kingdom, up from 34 million today.
By 2040, the purpose is a hundred million people, he said.
“This is the main goal of building NEOM, expanding Saudi Arabia’s capacity, attracting more citizens and more people to Saudi Arabia. And since we do it from scratch, why do we copy the general cities?”
It will be powered 100% through renewable energy and will feature “a year-round temperate microclimate with herbal ventilation,” according to a promotional video posted Monday.
Environmental promises beyond the kingdom, such as the promise of net zero carbon emissions by 2060, have sparked skepticism among environmentalists.
NEOM is well placed to harness solar and wind power, and there are also plans underway for the city to host the world’s largest green hydrogen plant, said Torbjorn Soltvedt of threat intelligence company Vethreat Maplecroft.
“But the viability of NEOM as a whole is still unclear given the unprecedented scale of the project,” he said.
– Search for a quote –
At just two hundred meters (yards) wide, The Line is meant to be Saudi Arabia’s reaction to out-of-control and unnecessary urban sprawl, overlaying houses, schools and parks on what planners call “zero-gravity urbanism. “
Residents will have “all daily necessities” available in less than five minutes on foot, while also having access to other benefits such as ski services and “a high-speed exercise with 20-minute end-to-end transit,” according to a statement. .
Although NEOM will implement its own founding law, which is still being prepared, Saudi officials say they have no plans to lift the kingdom’s alcohol ban.
An airport is already operational in NEOM and the government announced in May that it would start receiving scheduled flights from Dubai, but it is unclear whether the main structure of the megacity itself has begun.
The “first phase” of the project, which will last until 2030, will cost 1. 2 trillion Saudi riyals (about $319 billion), Prince Mohammed said.
In addition to government grants, potential investment resources come from the personal sector and an initial public provision for NEOM is expected in 2024, he said.
Securing mandatory financing remains a prospective challenge, even if the current climate is more favorable than the coronavirus pandemic that drove oil prices down.
“But investment is only part of the equation . . . demand is harder to buy, especially when you ask other people to participate in a party about how to live and function in the future,” Mogielnicki said.
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