Neom: Saudi Arabia's $500 Billion Bet To Build A Futuristic City In The Desert

Saudi Arabia is building a futuristic city in the middle of a vast desert— from scratch.

A vital element of the country's Vision 2030 plan, the project is the brainchild of Saudi's de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, also known as MBS. The site covers an area of more than 10,000 square miles, about the same size as Massachusetts. And it could cost $500 billion to complete.

"So Mohammed bin Salman wants to project himself as a liberal leader within the conservative royal family in Saudi Arabia," Ali Dogan, research fellow at the Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient institute, told CNBC in an interview. "Neom is a mega project seen in Saudi Arabia and the young Saudi population as part of this liberalization process."

The Neom project is far from without controversy, though. Critics say it's another attempt by the crown prince to improve his image after U.S. intelligence officials concluded he was behind the 2018 killing of journalist and Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi. It also is being seen by some as a way to distract attention from Saudi Arabia's human rights record.

Watch the video above to find out why MBS is betting on this futuristic city.

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Neom: Saudi Arabia's $500 Billion Bet To Build A Futuristic City In The Desert

[dvdragon]

Engineer: This will never work. There are fundamental problems with building this structure. I have moral problems with the actions of the Saudi Government.
MBS: I will pay you 1 million dollars tax free.
Engineer: When do we start? 😅

[djp]

This will be a cool abandoned structure to explore when it fails.

[punkdigerati]

Neom is the sound the budget would make as it skyrockets past you

[islts]

They could've spent that money on countrywide public transportation systems and an improved city planning strategy (country wide), which I think would've taken the country to the next level... I don't believe in built-from-scratch cities (by govs), cities are grown organically by the people.

[RoschetzkyPhotography]

Anyone notice their ski resort video clip showed people snowboarding and skiing UP hill, like impossibly going against gravity, I guess they have anti-gravity machines there

[tmm]

This has got Elysium / Black Mirror vibes.

[stowemanning]

Thank you for sharing your thoughtful content…for
putting it out there with the passion that many of us need and strive for. I'm starting to listen to you
almost every morning. Your voice and words are
calming, clarifying, uplifting and motivating. It feels real and genuine. I am grateful to have your channel as a source for having a better relationship with myself and the world around me?

[haydencraig]

When you invest, you're buying a day you don't have to work

[cms]

The last large construction project I know of in a desert was in southern Spain. It was an airport and it became an expensive white elephant. Still Palm Island kind of worked.

[arlieferguson]

The idea behind the wall might be that it could create some kind of temperature differential to help trap moisture behind the wall. A lot of evaporation is caused by air, not just by the sun, so perhaps if you build a wall against the wind current that consistently blows strongly in one direction you could trap moisture on the other side and slowly build up a temperature differential that would create a feedback loop.

[kuwa]

IMO, it would've been better if they made it circular if they aim that free-flowing, carless city. If the city is circular with the same area as the line, transportation would be much easier, and for it to be walkable is achievable in that shape, not a long straight line.

[Paul-qgiw]

Imagine all those consultancies, architects, lawyers etc and the fees will be simply incredible. Most of which will probably flow to and through London, it normally works that way.

[Andreas-ojnj]

500 billion? Here in the US lobbyists suggest a 1 trillion just for a high speed rail system

[grimmreaper]

The Barcelona Sea Water Desalination Plant cost around 200 000 000 Euro and provides a drinking water output of 200, 000m³/day. I strongly recommend they tack one on the ocean end of The Line. Turn some of that Oil money into a really useful future resource.

[jfrancobelge]

The Line. Millions of people living in a 170-kms long corridor, but only 200 meters wide, trapped between two walls as high as a mountain. That's quite a futuristic vision of Hell on Earth. I hope the project includes at least one psychiatric hospital, the residents will need it.

[jakedoyle]

Basically they decided "we have an ocean of money let's just throw tons of cash at a megaproject and see what happens."

[visualgene]

Sounds like a Futuristic Wasteland to me. Sure it can build some hype upon its launch, but not sure if this will be sustainable. A great urban design adapts on its natural terrain and maximizes the resources around it while this one is the exact opposite. The 170km mirrored wall looks like a gigantic magnifying glass ready to toast anything around it, especially during the peak of summer when temperature reaches more than 50°C (122°F). I don't know man, but this place seems more like it's being built by the ruler's ego and not by the intention to improve the quality of life within their country.

[JJ-igim]

Vanity projects usually don’t end well.

[imitale]

The bottom floor would be intended for people using exercise bikes that generate electricity for the entire building.

[jmuench]

I don't think building megastructures like this are a bad idea but I just don't think being a line makes sense, it makes navigating the city unnecessarily difficult.