Saudi Arabia has asked consulting firms to review its plans to build a futuristic, 170km long city on its Red Sea coast called “The Line”, a key pillar of Saudi Arabia’s Neom gigaproject.
The kingdom’s public investment fund (PIF) asked the consultants to determine whether its plans to build the car-free city are feasible, Bloomberg reported on Monday.
The report is likely to pile on more scepticism about The Line’s future.
In April, The Financial Times reported that the CEO of Neom had launched a “comprehensive review” of the kingdom’s megaproject.
Neom, along with luxury Red Sea hotels and a ski resort, is the flagship project of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030 plan to transform the kingdom’s economy and reduce its dependence on oil revenue.
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Bloomberg reported in 2024 that Saudi Arabia was cutting back plans for The Line. Instead of 1.5 million people living there by 2030, Saudi officials were said to anticipate fewer than 300,000 residents. Meanwhile, only 2.4km of the city is expected to be completed by 2030.
The Line was unveiled with much fanfare by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in 2021, with a short clip displaying some of human history’s biggest technological advancements over the last century, including the moon landing and the creation of the internet. It then asked, “What’s next?” and the answer came in the form of a televised address from the crown prince.
He said that the 170km city would have “zero cars, zero streets and zero carbon emissions” and that its one million inhabitants could fulfil all their daily requirements, including education and leisure, within a five-minute walk of home.
The crown prince also said it would be possible to travel from one end of The Line to the other in 20 minutes, implying that a very high-speed rail service would be built.
At the time, Saudi Arabia said it expected the city to contribute $48bn to the kingdom’s economy and create 380,000 jobs.
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The kingdom has pushed through liberalising social reforms, even as it cracks down on dissent. It has also opened up its economy, including recently legalising real estate purchases for foreigners.
However, the more grandiose megaprojects have faced setbacks due to their high cost and falling oil prices. Oil still accounts for roughly 61 percent of Saudi Arabia’s revenue, according to its 2025 budget.
Brent crude, the international benchmark, has been trading for under $70 per barrel for most of this year.
For years, Saudi Arabia was the main proponent of restricting supply in an alliance alongside Russia dubbed Opec+. The kingdom absorbed most of the production cuts within Opec+, while Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, and Kazakhstan boosted production.
In April, Saudi Arabia led Opec+ in a surprise move to boost production, in what energy analysts said was a move designed to punish “cheaters” exceeding production limits. The new supply has put more downward pressure on prices.
In April, Goldman Sachs painted a bleak picture for Saudi Arabia’s projects in a note to clients, projecting “pretty significant” budget deficits and more scaling back of megaprojects.
Neom has already faced internal challenges. Nadhmi al-Nasr, who managed Neom’s construction from 2018 to 2024, departed from his post in November.
Nasr earned a chilling reputation managing Neom. He bragged that he put everyone to work “like a slave”, adding, “When they drop down dead, I celebrate. That’s how I do my projects.”
Two other foreign executives also left Neom at the end of 2024, according to The Wall Street Journal. One reportedly disparaged Islam, made lewd references about sexual positions and said women from the Arabian Gulf looked like “transvestites”.
Aiman al-Mudaifer was appointed CEO of Neom in November after overseeing a real estate division of the kingdom’s nearly $1 trillion PIF.
