Saudi Arabia’s Neom: The Line’s 100-Mile Glass City Is Being Scaled Back

In Saudi Arabia’s north-western desert, an audacious proposal for a 100-mile glass city is being quietly recast.

The kingdom’s Neom megaproject, formerly promoted as The Line, a revolutionary carbon-free metropolis, is now subject to substantial reductions amid fears over escalating costs, missed timetables and pressure on public finances. With expenditure already reaching tens of billions of dollars long before the intended 2030 completion date, officials are pursuing a slimmer, more achievable scheme.

From desert utopia to budget reality

Launched in 2017, Neom was intended as the flagship of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030 programme, designed to reduce Saudi Arabia’s reliance on oil by developing technology, tourism and property industries.

The Line was central to Neom: two parallel skyscrapers, each 500 metres high, extending about 200km through the desert towards the Red Sea. Planners said this narrow, renewable-energy-powered urban corridor would accommodate as many as 9 million people without roads, cars or emissions.

The Line was marketed as a radical break with conventional urban life: a 100-mile vertical city where everything was five minutes away.

However, strain has grown behind the polished videos and mirrored exteriors. People briefed on the scheme say senior figures have cautioned that spending has surged and building work has fallen behind programme.

‘We spent too much’: officials push the brakes

By the end of 2023, progress on major elements of The Line had slowed, while certain construction activity was discreetly halted as Riyadh reviewed its priorities. At a leading investment forum in the capital in November, a Saudi official publicly conceded that the government had gone too far.

“We rushed at 100 miles an hour. We are now running deficits. We need to reprioritise,” the official said, reflecting a sharper tone on megaproject spending.

The Financial Times said roughly $50bn had been invested in Neom by November, while The Line on its own had previously been projected to cost approximately $500bn. That estimate was uncomfortable alongside a growing fiscal deficit and weaker oil income, which continues to support much of the Saudi state.

People familiar with the talks say the crown prince now backs a “far smaller” iteration of The Line. Its revised dimensions have not been determined, with sources indicating that both the linear city’s length and the speed of its construction are under review.

The grand vision that hit a hard wall

A city without cars, built in a straight line

The Line’s initial blueprints resembled science fiction rendered as engineering plans. The proposal included:

• A 170–200km-long strip of skyscrapers, with mirrored outer surfaces intended to merge into the desert skyline
• Continuous structures standing 500 metres tall, nearly the height of the Empire State Building
• No roads or private vehicles, with high-speed transport and autonomous vehicles moving residents around
• Energy entirely supplied by renewable sources, while 95 per cent of the neighbouring land was set aside for nature
• 9 million residents within one dense, compact urban layout

The city was presented as a blueprint for sustainable life, combining AI-operated services, vertical agriculture and neighbourhoods layered closely together. Saudi authorities described it as a solution to urban sprawl and congested traffic in cities worldwide.

But once construction crews began work, the vastness of the engineering task became more apparent. Bringing transport tunnels, utilities, homes and commercial premises together within a single unbroken steel-and-glass wall created severe technical and financial challenges.

Oil prices, deficits and political patience

Despite repeated commitments to diversify, Saudi Arabia’s economy is still highly exposed to movements in oil prices. Revenue that has fallen short of expectations, together with the accumulated effects of extensive state investment over several years, has made Riyadh more selective about the destination of its next trillion-riyal cheque.

Analysts argue that the kingdom faces a basic funding equation: numerous flagship schemes, including airports and tourism resorts, are competing for the same capital and building capacity. As the most ambitious of these ventures, Neom is an obvious candidate for reductions.

The decision to scale back The Line signals less appetite for ultra-expensive experiments, and more focus on what can start generating returns sooner.

Neom’s pivot: from megacity to data hub?

Reports indicate that Neom’s future could depend less on architectural theatre and more on chips and servers. The Times reported that planners are considering converting parts of the development into a concentration of data centres and AI infrastructure, supporting the crown prince’s ambition to establish Saudi Arabia as a major force in artificial intelligence.

Such a move would redirect attention from futuristic city-building to digital infrastructure. Although server farms, cloud sites and AI training centres need far less landmark architecture, they can draw international technology firms and reinforce the diversification case on which Vision 2030 relies.

A source cited by British media said it remains uncertain whether a reduced version of The Line will continue alongside this technology-led direction or gradually be shelved.

Costly delays and a troubled first opening

Only one section of Neom has so far welcomed visitors: Sindalah, an upmarket Red Sea yachting resort. Its soft opening was also significantly late and over budget. Originally scheduled to open in 2021, it reportedly staged its “grand opening” in October 2024, three years behind schedule and at around three times the initial cost.

The launch, featuring celebrity performances from figures including Will Smith and Alicia Keys, reportedly disappointed those whose views mattered most. Sources say the crown prince was dissatisfied with both its cost and delivery, and subsequently dismissed Neom chief executive Nadhmi al-Nasr.

The sacking of Neom’s CEO over the Sindalah launch sent a sharp message: future phases must be leaner, faster and less showy.

This altered mood has informed the wider review of both The Line and Neom, with officials seeking to reduce ambitions while retaining core assets capable of attracting tourists and investors.

Why megaprojects so often shrink

Neom’s reassessment mirrors a pattern evident in other prominent developments, from Dubai to China. Vast state-backed urban schemes commonly begin with expansive visions before being reduced to phases that are easier to manage.

The same pressures repeatedly cause this change:

• Budget overruns once early contracts expose the actual cost of labour and materials
• Delays caused by planning complications and supply-chain constraints
• Shifting political priorities when fresh spending requirements arise
• More cautious private investors seeking more transparent returns

For Neom, a sluggish world economy, unstable oil markets and increasing building costs have combined to make the original version of The Line much more difficult to justify domestically, even for a powerful crown prince.

Key terms and what they actually mean

Two expressions frequently used in relation to Neom and The Line can obscure more than they clarify.

Vision 2030: Saudi Arabia’s long-range strategy to depend on more than oil. Alongside huge infrastructure programmes, it covers changes to tourism, entertainment, investment regulations and women’s workforce participation. When authorities describe a project as “part of Vision 2030”, they generally mean it is intended to move employment and revenue into new industries.

100 per cent renewable energy: In The Line’s case, the term described an aspiration rather than an established system. A city operating wholly on renewables would require enormous initial spending on solar power, wind power and storage, as well as grid systems able to balance supply with demand. Reducing the project’s scale lowers these needs, while making its sustainability promises less striking.

What a scaled-back Line could look like

Should the development continue in a reduced form, analysts suggest that a single anchor district could replace the planned 200km route. This may involve:

• Building a shorter urban section first, near established infrastructure and the Red Sea coastline
• Accommodating fewer people, with greater priority given to mixed-use business areas and premium homes
• Expanding gradually in response to actual demand rather than pursuing a fixed target of 9 million residents

A redesign of this kind would enable Saudi officials to maintain a link with the original vision while lowering risk and allowing private investors to assess whether people genuinely wish to live and work in a desert megastructure.

For Saudi nationals and overseas workers, Neom’s recalibration poses practical questions. Will future investment focus on more traditional cities and services, including housing, public transport and digital infrastructure in established urban areas? Or will Neom, even in a smaller form, continue to receive the largest share of funding and attention?

The outcome will influence not only the north-western desert skyline, but also whether Saudi Arabia’s economic transformation is built around one landmark city or a wider, more gradual change throughout the country.