Is Saudi Arabia pausing its ambitious desert city, ‘The Line’?

Is Saudi Arabia’s ambitious megacity in the desert on hold?

The Kingdom had unveiled ‘The Line’, part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030 plan, with great fanfare. MBS, as he is known, made no secret of wanting to diversify away from oil and turn the Kingdom into a vacation and luxury destination.

‘The Line’ is part of Saudi Arabia’s $1.5 trillion (Rs. 1331 lakh crore) mega Neom project, which was planned to be 33 times the size of New York City. The project has been haunted by reports about repeated delays, ballooning spending costs and even allegations of corruption. Its long-time CEO Nadhmi al-Nasr abruptly resigned earlier this year while giving no reason. MBS’ absence from his pet project has also set tongues wagging.

But what happened? And what do we know about the project?

Let’s take a closer look.

What we know

The Kingdom had claimed that ‘The Line’ would be a linear futuristic city in the desert near the Red Sea. Located in the Tabuk province, it was envisioned to stretch from the Red Sea to the mountains. ‘The Line’ was to be a 170-kilometre city built in a straight line within two mirrored walls. It was to contain two parallel, 500-metre-high, linear skyscrapers which would be around 200 metres wide. It was projected to be home to 9 million people – a fourth of the Kingdom’s population.

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Authorities had said that the city, which would have no cars, roads or emissions, would operate on 100 per cent renewable energy. They claimed 95 per cent of the land would be reserved for nature and conservation. Plans for the scheme, when unveiled, appeared something more out of sci-fi than reality, with images of a fake moon, animatronic dinosaurs and robot farmers.

MBS, who launched Vision 2030, has already spent billions on such projects to change the image of the Kingdom. However, there are now reports that officials are scaling back on the grandiose plans. Authorities are saying The Line will only be a few kilometres long and host around 300,000 people. They say the 170-kilometre span is likely to be achieved in three to five decades.

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What happened?

So, what happened? Blame the price of oil, which is hovering around $60 (Rs. 5,318) per barrel. The Kingdom, having no personal income tax, relies on oil for income.

Jerry Inzerillo, an American-born executive who is a key adviser to MBS, said the Kingdom was “making a course correction”. He said that oil prices are forcing them to “be more conservative”.

“Saudi Arabia is a very wealthy country but there is a limit on how much it can spend relative to GDP,” Inzerillo admitted. Inzerillo also added that the project was likely to be delayed to 2040, if not even further. The Line “might more accurately have been positioned as a laboratory of what quality of life might look like in 2040,” he said.

“We spent too much,” a Saudi official told The Times. “We rushed at 100 miles an hour. We are now running deficits. We need to reprioritise.”

“We need another two to three years of high oil prices to pay down our debts. I’m optimistic that price rises will be coming,” the official added.

The Line is far from the only project affected.

MBS raged at the design flaws and “wasteful” spending over Sindalah, a $1 billion (Rs. 88,640 crore) island resort in the Red Sea. The project, which witnessed Alicia Keys and Will Smith attending the VIP opening party at a beach, was cancelled. Designers were found using rare and expensive crocodile skins in the interiors of one building.

The mountain resort Trojena, which was supposed to hold the 2029 Asian Winter Games, has also been delayed. Saudi officials said it is unlikely to be ready until 2032.

The $50 billion (Rs. 44.32 lakh crore) New Murabba in Riyadh, projected to be the world’s largest downtown district, is facing the same fate, according to Michael Dyke, New Murabba’s chief executive.

“We took a decision to slow down before speeding up. The worst thing is to make lots of fanfare only to find that you don’t have substance behind it,” Dyke said.

With inputs from agencies