Is Saudi's vision of a 170-km-long mirrored skyscraper a desert mirage?

Given the mind-boggling size of Saudi Arabia's planned 170-km (105 mile)-long skyscraper the Line, perhaps it was inevitable that there would be some kind of reality check. Now a new report suggests that the initial phase of the project will be much more modest than originally planned.

According to Bloomberg, which cites an unnamed source familiar with the project, authorities are getting nervous about the vast sums of money being thrown at the project and the lack of hoped-for outside investment to help pay for it all, since even Saudi Arabia's deep pockets aren't quite bottomless.

As things currently stand then, the Line will take the form of a massive mirrored building that will reach a height of 500 m (1,640 ft), making it almost as tall as the USA's tallest skyscraper. Its width will be 200 m (656 ft), however, its initial length will now be "just" 2.4 km (1.5 miles), to be completed by 2030.

It's important to note that the plan was always to build this thing in phases, so the relatively modest first phase length isn't necessarily all that significant a setback in itself. However, more tellingly, it was also supposed to host a population of 1.5 million by 2030 and, according to the report, this has now been reduced to under 300,000 people. The idea is that the Line will then potentially keep growing like any normal city, adding new residential areas, businesses, and tourist attractions as needed, all under the watchful eye of AI systems and heavy surveillance to help monitor energy requirements.

Assuming there are no further setbacks, the Line is still a very ambitious project, as seen in the recent construction video. However, there's no sugarcoating it: the reported revision is a huge reduction in scope, at least initially, and doesn't bode well for Prince Mohammed bin Salman's utopian – some might say dystopian – vision of a mirrored city in the sand for 9 million people.

As for the wider Neom development, work is still ongoing and the Treyam, Xaynor and Gidori are safer bets, since they will be relatively easier and cheaper to achieve. It remains to be seen whether Foster + Partners' rumored 1.2-mile-tall skyscraper will still be officially announced in the new cost-conscious climate or if that too will fall foul of Saudi's bean counters.

We've reached out to Neom for official comment.

Source: Bloomberg