Saudi Arabia’s megaproject The Line, part of the $1.5 trillion Neom city, is the only line that’s not going straight, it’s turning into commas. The project’s growth has been exceptionally sporadic, and after a whirlwind of initial years, officials are now pressing pause. In 2022, Luxurylaunches reported that The Line would feature its own giant fake moon, animatronic dinosaurs, robot farmers, and tropical rainforests.
Three years later, that vision seems like a distant dream, as The Line appears to be a smaller shadow of its former self. This stems from widespread reassessment across Crown Prince MBS’s Vision 2030 portfolio.
An array of ongoing projects, The Line, Trojena, Oxagon, etc collectively valued at over $1 trillion, face scrutiny. On one hand lies the dream of transforming Saudi Arabia into a luxury tourism destination like no other; on the other, ballooning construction costs threaten to turn ambition into an unsustainable pursuit. Falling oil prices and widening budget deficits are not helping matters either.
As a result, The Line, once envisioned as a revolutionary, twin linear city stretching 170 kilometers across the Tabuk desert, is being scaled down to just a few miles. Industry insiders now see the original 170 km arcology as a 30 to 50 year buildout, and officials are indicating that the next phases will only be locked in after the first small segment actually opens and starts generating revenue. Initial construction updates confirm this, as the government redirects resources and timelines across its broader development landscape, according to The Times.
There are also brutally practical engineering and ecological problems buried under the glossy renders. The Gulf of Aqaba is a major migratory corridor and a mirrored 500 meter wall is a bird hazard on an unprecedented scale. Add to this the headache inducing chore of maintaining clean, spotless, mirror surfaces just to maintain optical consistency, ultimately adding to maintenance costs.
Not only The Line, other projects, such as the Trojena mountain resort (planned host of the 2029 Asian Winter Games), the lukewarm Sindalah luxury island, and the $50 billion New Murabba district in Riyadh, are facing delays and downscaling. “We spent too much,” one official admitted to The Sunday Times. “We rushed at 100 miles an hour. We need to reprioritize.” Despite the setbacks, officials maintain that The Line remains very much a reality, just not the colossal, futuristic city first promised. It will take shape, albeit on a smaller, more pragmatic scale.
