New NEOM city to run on ‘100% renewable energy’

General view of NEOM in northwestern Saudi Arabia, January 11, 2021. Picture taken January 11, 2021. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed/File

The zero-carbon city that Saudi Arabia plans to build at NEOM will vertically layer homes, offices, public parks and schools within a mirrored facade stretching over 170km (150 miles), the crown prince said in remarks carried by state media, according to a news report in Reuters. 

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman first unveiled plans for ‘The Line’ in January 2021, the first major construction project for the US$500 billon NEOM business zone aimed at diversifying the economy of the world’s top oil exporter.

The city, 200m wide and running on “100% renewable energy,” will also include a high-speed rail with an end-to-end transit of 20 minutes. It will eventually accommodate nine million residents, state news agency SPA cited him as saying.

“The city’s vertically layered communities will challenge the

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman announces a zero-carbon city called “The Line” to be built at NEOM in northwestern Saudi Arabia, January 10, 2021. Bandar Algaloud/Courtesy of Saudi Royal Court/Handout via REUTERS/Files

traditional flat, horizontal cities,” the prince said. “The designs of The Line embody how urban communities will be in the future in an environment free from roads, cars and emissions.”

The prince had said last year that the project’s infrastructure would cost $US100 billion to US$200 billion. SPA did not provide any updated figures.

The kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund, is the cornerstone investor in NEOM, a 26,500-square-km (10,230-square-mile) high-tech development on the Red Sea with several zones, including an industrial and logistics areas, planned for completion in 2025.

(Reporting by Yousef Saba in Jeddah; Writing by Ghaida Ghantous; Editing by Matthew Lewis)