The Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, have unveiled his latest vision for the future of the country beyond oil. He unveiled his vision of a city having no cars, roads or carbon emissions.
What is the plan?
- The country has planned to for a 170 kilometre-long (106 mile-long) development which will be called The Line.
- The Line will be part of the $500 billion project called Neom.
- The Construction of the same has been planned to start in the first quarter.
What is The Line?
- The Line as a walkable belt of hyper-connected future communities.
- The belt comprises of no cars and roads.
- It will be built around the nature.
- The city will comprise of 1 million residents.
- It will create 380,000 jobs by 2030.
- The total cost for the infrastructure will be in between $100 billion to $200 billion.
- This project is the first major development to be announced within Neom.
What is Project Neom?
- Project Neom is Saudi Arabia’s plan to diversify the economy of the world’s largest crude exporter.
- This project was announced in the year 2017.
- It spans more than 10,000 square miles in a remote area of the northwest Saudi Arabia near the Red Sea, Strait of Tiran and borders of Egypt, Israel and Jordan.
- The project is being describe as a bold and audacious dream
- This would become a hub for new technologies and businesses.
- The Neom project has been plagued by the skepticism and political controversy since its launch.
- Project Neom has been planned in the cross-border city of the Tabuk Province of north-western Saudi Arabia.
- First section of the project will be completed by 2025.
Significance of the project
The Neom project has been planned in a way to incorporate the smart city technologies. It will also function as a tourist destination. This planned project will be powered by renewable energy sources completely.
