Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Sunday launched a new project that will see a futuristic city take shape over the next decade. According to reports that quoted the Saudi Press Agency, 'The Line' is an initiative under the NEOM project and will be a sustainable city with zero cars, zero streets, and zero carbon emissions. As the Project's website puts it, "there is a future, it’s called the line".
"Today, as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of NEOM, I present to you THE LINE. A city of a million residents with a length of 170 km that preserves 95% of nature within NEOM, with zero cars, zero streets and zero carbon emissions," a press release quotes the Prince who is incidentally the Chairman of the NEOM Company Board of Directors as saying.
According to details published on the website, The Line project will create 380,000 new jobs and contribute SAR 180bn to domestic GDP by 2030. When completed, more than a million people will be housed within the project. Details provided claim that there will be no roads and cars in this city and that it will be powered completely by renewable energy. However this does not mean that people will have to walk endlessly to reach places they want or need to go to.
The NEOM website explains that essential services will be no more than a a five-minute walk and there will be "high-speed transportation" facilities that are "seamlessly integrated in dedicated spaces running in an invisible layer along THE LINE"
"THE LINE is located in NEOM, linking the coast of the Red Sea with the mountains and upper valleys of the north-west of Saudi Arabia. The location is at the crossroads of the world, making it a natural choice for a global innovation hub. More than 40% of the global population will be able to reach NEOM’s breathtaking terrain in less than a four-hour flight, while 13% of the world’s trade already flows through the Red Sea," explains the NEOM website.
