Work on Saudi Arabia's audacious megacity, the Line, is ongoing, and its first phase is expected to be completed in 2030Teneo Strategy LLC, on behalf of Neom Company
Posted on 04/13/2025 8:39:44 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
As the Line gigaproject continues to grow in the Saudi desert, some new construction details have been announced that highlight the mind-boggling challenge of turning a huge tract of rugged landscape into a futuristic megacity, including its reported use of one fifth of the entire world's currently available steel.
To recap, the Line is the key part of Saudi Arabia's Neom project, which is itself part of a larger push to transform the country's predominantly oil-based economy into a tourism-focused one as fossil fuel use is inevitably reduced in the coming years.
The plan is for the Line to eventually have a length of 170 km (105 miles), though its initial stage, which will be finished by 2030, will be "just" 2.4 km (1.5 miles). This will still be an amazing achievement, however, and it will reach a height of 500 m (1,640 ft), with a width of 200 m (656 ft). It will be wrapped in a mirrored exterior and host an air-conditioned city of around 300,000 people with AI tech and heavy surveillance to keep an eye on how everything is running – from garbage collection to water usage.
To help make all this happen, Saudi Arabian authorities have now commissioned a new SAR 700-million (almost US$190-million) concrete multi-plant factory that will be capable of producing up to 20,000 cubic meters (roughly 700,000 cubic ft) of concrete per day, most of which will be for the Line, with the remainder going to other Neom projects. There are also over 100,000 workers busy removing huge amounts of earth 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to make space for its massive foundations.
Work on the foundation piles is also progressing, with nearly 1,000 out of over 30,000 piles placed so far...
(Excerpt) Read more at newatlas.com ...
Work on Saudi Arabia's audacious megacity, the Line, is ongoing, and its first phase is expected to be completed in 2030Teneo Strategy LLC, on behalf of Neom Company
The one Neom project that's actually happening: an absurdly gigantic palace | Jesus Diaz | Fast Company | 03-11-2025 | As Saudi Arabia's planned megaproject Neom stalls out, a 16-building palace has already taken shape.A recent concept rendering of The LineImage: Neom
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I smell the making of a monstrous ghost city.
I know where they can get all the mirrors they need...dirt cheap.
That’ll make for some cool YouTube ‘exploration’ vids.
It sounds like the making of the most expensive Vanity Project on earth, serving not very many people when/ if completed. I’m thinking of my CA Gov. Newsom’s Train To Nowhere boondogle, multiplied by a factor of 15.
Dubai is another middle east location, noted for it’s numerous excessively overbuilt public structures, done mainly ‘because they can.’
There was a polemical vid I saw a few days ago, one criticism in it noted that it took eight years to build the current WTC in NYC, and this project amounts to more than 1000 of those. So really it's just a matter of scaling up -- recruiting and/or training more than 1000 times the number of skilled highrise construction workers that were needed for the WTC, and finishing the whole works in eight years. Wait, what was that sound?
Heliostat in Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia has been making significant strides in utilizing heliostats for solar power projects. Solar Tower Technologies (STT) successfully commissioned the first heliostat field in Saudi Arabia, consisting of 66 heliostats, each with an 8 m² reflector area, at the solar tower test site of King Saud University in Riyadh. This field was installed and commissioned within three weeks, showcasing the high quality and precision required for such installations.
Additionally, Saudi Arabia is exploring large-scale solar thermal projects. For instance, a 1,500 MW solar thermal plant is being built by GlassPoint to decarbonize the aluminum industry, which will significantly reduce carbon emissions. The plant will generate steam using solar energy, aiming to reduce carbon emissions by more than 600,000 tons annually.
Moreover, Saudi Arabia is focusing on renewable energy strategies, with solar being a core focus to meet its 2030 targets. As of late 2022, over $900 million had already been invested into the Sudair IPP project, which is expected to become one of the largest single-site solar initiatives worldwide.
Heliostats are also used in smaller-scale projects for daylighting and heating purposes, reflecting non-concentrated sunlight through windows or skylights.
https://search.brave.com/search?q=heliostat+in+saudi+arabia&summary=1
Stratosphericlly Over the Top!!
Mind now boggled.
I swear that looks like one of the dystopian villas from Judge Dredd.
You look up “boondoggle” in the dictionary and there’s a picture of this development. Are they trying to outdo the Chinese in mega-cities where nobody actually lives?
CC
Oh, they’ll live there, or else. :^)
This mostly reminds me of Brasilia — the intent there was to get the Brazilians to start to live in the vast undeveloped interior. It grew fairly quickly because of the subsidized apartments, support jobs for the gubmint, and modern amenities. It wasn’t all that far in the interior. If memory serves, elected officials used the provided manors but kept their own homes when they weren’t needed for sessions etc.
But we don’t like to live in an overplanned, canned environment where change is suspended. Usually. Those who like to enforce bylaws like gated communities, that’s about it.
How much electricity will it take to air condition 8,267,200,000 cubic feet?
I’d be surprised if they’re not planning to use heat pumps and underground heat-exchange grids. Some neighbors (a couple miles from here, out in The Boonies) has had that since they built their home, heating and cooling, and they get just the one bill. :^) Even in Michigan, its temperature-stable starting about eight foot down.
OTOH, the floor and window treatments are gonna make someone pretty rich...
It’s gonna be a bitch to dust.
You just know you're going to have to work your way through the bottom tunnels somewhere along the way to the boss battle.
One fustercluck after another.
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