Saudi Arabia scales back ambitious plans for Neom megacity

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Saudi Arabia,Neom,Megacity

Saudi Arabia is reportedly scaling back its ambitious goals for the under-construction Neom megacity, including the promise of housing 1.5 million people in one massive skyscraper. Neom, a personal project of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, is part of Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 plan to diversify the economy and increase cultural and political influence.

Reports began surfacing suggesting that Saudi Arabia is recalibrating its ambitious goals for the under-construction “megacity” Neom, most prominently walking back its promise of housing 1.5 million people in one massive skyscraper dubbed “The Line.”

“Officials have long said The Line would be built in stages and they expect it to ultimately cover a 170-kilometer stretch of desert along the coast. With the latest pullback, though, officials expect to have just 2.4 kilometers of the project completed by 2030,” Bloomberg claimed. The Bloomberg report belied concerns entirely absent in the public face of the Neom project. It noted that the Saudi government had not announced any setbacks for The Line publicly, and it has not weighed in on the report since. Rather than indicating a slowdown of development, Neom has consistently announced new projects.

“According to more than 25 current and former employees interviewed for this story, as well as 2,700 pages of internal documents, the project has been plagued by setbacks,” Bloombergat the time, “many stemming from the difficulty of implementing MBS’s grandiose, ever-changing ideas—and of telling a prince who’s overseen the imprisonment of many of his own family members that his desires can’t be met.

In reality, the northwestern part of Saudi Arabia is home to an indigenous tribe known as the Huwaitat, who have complained that the Saudi government is exterminating them off the land.

 

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