Neom: Can Saudi Arabia afford the futuristic eco-city? - The Global Story podcast, BBC World Service

Neom, Saudi Arabia's ambitious city of the future, promises a car-free, carbon-free space open to all. At the heart of the plans are two skyscrapers as tall as the Empire State building, carved into the desert in a straight line for more than 100 miles. But can this dream ever become a reality?

Katya Adler is joined by BBC Verify's Merlyn Thomas, who has been investigating allegations that Saudi security forces were permitted to use lethal force while clearing inhabitants from the vast building site, and BBC Middle East Business Correspondent, Sameer Hashmi, who tells us that Saudi Arabia is banking on Neom to help future proof its economy, but that they might struggle to cover the rising costs of the project.

00:07 Introduction
01:19 What is Neom?
02:22 What does Neom tell us about Saudi Arabia?
03:39 Difficulties investigating Neom
05:07 How important is Neom to Saudi Arabia?
06:12 Locals displaced to build Neom
07:27 Death of local protestor
09:28 Green credentials of Neom
11:14 Accusations of greenwashing
12:20 Saudi Arabia's plans for oil and renewables
13:22 The cost of Neom
14:06 "Double the annual government budget"
15:51 Questions about the design of The Line
16:28 Will Neom and The Line become reality?
17:27 Can Saudi Arabia achieve their commercial aims with Neom?

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[Musamecanica]

Why on Earth would anyone invest on a project even the saudis can't afford? Are they going to charge 20 million a month in rent to all the people dying to move to an air conditioned prison in the desert? This will never be built.

[mujtabalokhandwala]

In history, Neom will be known as MBS' folly!

[willienelsongonzalez]

Saudi Arabia can afford Neom but this is simply a vanity project that isn’t going to benefit those that live there. Cities exist in a circular type pattern for a reason and ideally it starts from a port. You can still develop green tech, green transport and a healthier city that all can benefit from. Having a line as a city simply introduces unnecessary duplication of services that actually creates inefficiencies and disparities.

[dou]

They will build 1kms and the absurdity of it will be revealed in a hard way so they will renounce. Costs will be out of control and the economic viability is unattainable and last but not least nobody will want to live there.

[tanjongmalim]

Forest is NEVER appears in one day.
Saudi think money can bring in the forest, she can have the superficial tops, not the roots.

[mrfaisalfaisal]

A British talking about human rights and an Indian discussing carbon emissions. Maybe you both should focus on your countries ?

[Seawithinyou]

The Line would be a great Sand collector especially with Sand Storms becoming more extreme

[jasonheath]

Personally, I think NEOM sounds amazing.

[napoleonrabbit]

Real estate 101: location location location. No one wants to buy a cubicle in a glass sheet in the middle of the effing desert!!!

[jaker]

They designed it like they are predicting a future zombie apocalypse or something. Why does the city need to be in a rigid long straight line. Why not make it circular so at most you only have to travel half of the circle to get anywhere. So many questions.

[phoque]

Saudi Arabia has money for that, but not to receive refugees from Syria, Afghanistan, etc. 🙄🙄🙄

[oFaisalo]

They called burj Khalifa “dumb project” look at it now, nothing is impossible, if inventors didn’t do the “impossible” we wouldn’t have planes, cars, trains, etc. at the end we are humans, we don’t know what going to happen in the future.

[factcheck]

Best of luck for Saudi Arabia 🇸🇦 💚
I like the idea of the project

[dodid]

Applied for 5 jobs for NEOM and always get rejected. Sad 😥

[marclawson]

This entirely avoided the GIGANTIC ELEPHANT in the room.

[mufticaptures]

Why don't you interview a Saudi or representative of Neom?

[arnbrandy]

Who still has questions? This Neom thing is nonsense beyond any question 🤣

[merrymachiavelli]

I would be much less sceptical of the Line if it wasn't a line. There just doesn't seem to be much rationale for that being the form factor of a city. A circular city is most efficient from the perspective of minimising travel from any given A-to-B distance, which is why human cities are generally circular (albeit adapted to local geography).

If I were given a near-limitless budget and to design a futuristic city in Saudi Arabia from scratch, I'd probably make something at least semi-subterranean. The biggest challenge the whole region is going to have is when temperatures get so insanely hot, it is lethal to be outside for more than a few minutes in multiple days every summer, and highly uncomfortable the rest of the season. That seems like it'd be a major drag on most sectors, especially tourism.

[zapfanzapfan]

No one in their right mind will invest in SA, they will have to self fund until it is finished.

[bazle]

Real question is. Why British so salty?