His Royal Highness Mohammed bin Salman, Crown Prince and Chairman of the NEOM Company Board of Directors, today announced THE LINE, a revolutionary oil-free urban living at NEOM.
Its construction will commence in Q1 of 2021.
The project is one of the most challenging infrastructure projects in the world and will drive diversification and aims to create 3,80,000 jobs of the future and USD 48 billion to domestic GDP by 2030.
THE LINE, a 170 km belt of hyper-connected future communities, is an answer to some of the most pressing challenges facing humanity like legacy infrastructure, pollution, traffic, and human congestion.
The project will comprise carbon-positive urban developments powered by 100 percent clean energy, providing pollution-free, healthier, and more sustainable environments for residents.
This 170-km belt will be built around nature devoid of cars and roads.
Interesting? How is this possible, one may ask. THE LINE has been designed around people, not roads. Meaning – all essential daily services, such as schools, medical clinics, leisure facilities, and green spaces, will be within a five-minute walk.
Ultra-high-speed transit and autonomous mobility solutions will make travel easier and give residents the opportunity to reclaim time to spend on health and wellbeing. The project aims at a journey not longer than 20 minutes.
THE LINE’s communities will be cognitive, powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI), continuously learning predictive ways to make life easier, creating time for both residents and businesses.
An estimated 90 percent of available data will be harnessed to enhance infrastructure capabilities far beyond the 1 percent typically utilized in existing smart cities.
His Royal Highness said: “Throughout history, cities were built to protect their citizens. After the Industrial Revolution, cities prioritized machines, cars, and factories over people. In cities that are viewed as the world’s most advanced, people spend years of their lives commuting. By 2050, commute durations will double.
By 2050, one billion people will have to relocate due to rising CO2 emissions and sea levels. 90% of people breathe polluted air. Why should we sacrifice nature for the sake of development? Why should seven million people die every year because of pollution? Why should we lose one million people every year due to traffic accidents? And why should we accept wasting years of our lives commuting?”
NEOM is part of the world-class, diversified portfolio of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds in the world.
NEOM is an accelerator of human progress and a vision of what a New Future might look like. It is a region in northwest Saudi Arabia on the Red Sea being built from the ground up as a living laboratory – a place where entrepreneurship will chart the course for this New Future.
It will be a destination and a home for people who dream big and want to be part of building a new model for exceptional liveability, creating thriving businesses, and reinventing environmental conservation.
NEOM will be the home and workplace to more than a million residents from around the world. It will include towns and cities, ports and enterprise zones, research centers, sports and entertainment venues, and tourist destinations.
As a hub for innovation, entrepreneurs, business leaders, and companies will come to research, incubate, and commercialize new technologies and enterprises in ground-breaking ways.
Residents of NEOM will embody an international ethos and embrace a culture of exploration, risk-taking, and diversity – all supported by a progressive law compatible with international norms and conducive to economic growth.
