Manhattan in the desert: what the Saudi Neom project will really become
At last year’s Davos Forum, Neom project representative Denis Hickey spoke about the new realities of the project for investors. The site in the Saudi desert is currently the world’s biggest consumer of steel, as it requires countless piles. Construction is on track to have a key structure ready by 2030 – the Line mega-building, which is 2.4km long, 200m wide and up to 500m high.
The original plan to diversify Saudi Arabia’s economy by creating a new grand infrastructure has undergone significant changes. Between 300,000 and 9 million people were expected to live inside the Line, as the project is scalable. Now it is clear that the actual settlement of the structure, as well as its expansion, will stretch for at least a century, so the payback of the idea is shifted to the distant future.
The concept remains unchanged – the Line will be a garden city with no personal transportation, and all systems run on electricity from renewable sources. It is generated by solar panels and wind turbines on the outside of the structure. The architecture of the city is planned similar to the Manhattan development – the planners need to accommodate a huge number of people in a very tight space. At the moment, this means a combination of modest housing and spacious public areas with an abundance of greenery and entertainment facilities.