Neom: An Update on the World's Most Ridiculous City Proposal (Videos)

This is a 22 May 2024 video.

Neom is an urban area being built by Saudi Arabia in Tabuk. Launched in 2017 by crown prince Bin Salman, the site is at the northern tip of the Red Sea, due east of Egypt across the Gulf of Aqaba and south of Jordan. The total planned area of Neom is 26,500 km² (10,200 sq mi). Multiple regions are planned, including a floating industrial complex, global trade hub, tourist resorts and a linear city powered by renewable energy sources.

Much of the city is hoped to be completed by 2039. Some experts have expressed skepticism about the ambitions of the megaproject. Neom’s construction has also been criticised for environmental and human rights violations, with members of the local Howeitat tribe protesting against their forced expulsion and expatriate employees describing abusive working conditions.

The project’s estimated costs exceed $1.5 trillion. On January 29, 2019, the Saudi government announced it had established a closed joint-stock company named Neom. The company is wholly owned by the Public Investment Fund and is solely dedicated to developing the economic zone of Neom.

Saudi Arabia originally aimed to complete major parts of the project by 2020, with an expansion completed in 2025, but fell behind schedule. By July 2022, only two buildings had been constructed, and most of the project area remained bare desert. In 2024, the project was reported to have been substantially scaled back from its original plan, however this was denied by the Saudi Economic Minister, Faisal F. Alibrahim.

https://youtu.be/e40Ju-zNyXk

Could this absurd idea fix the Line? Concepts for Neom in Saudia Arabia.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/VtHqnW5d5mM?feature=share