Saudi crown prince touts vertical living in NEOM’s zero-carbon city

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia, July 25 (Reuters) – The zero-carbon metropolis that Saudi Arabia plans to construct at NEOM will vertically layer houses, workplaces, public parks and faculties inside a mirrored facade stretching over 170 km (150 miles), the crown prince stated on Monday in remarks carried by state media.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman first unveiled plans for “The Line” in January 2021, the primary main development undertaking for the $500 billon NEOM enterprise zone aimed toward diversifying the economic system of the world’s prime oil exporter.

The town, 200 metres broad and operating on “100% renewable vitality,” will even embody a high-speed rail with an end-to-end transit of 20 minutes. It would ultimately accommodate 9 million residents, state information company SPA cited him as saying.

“The town’s vertically layered communities will problem the normal flat, horizontal cities,” the prince stated. “The designs of The Line embody how city communities can be sooner or later in an atmosphere free from roads, vehicles and emissions.”

The prince had stated final 12 months that the undertaking’s infrastructure would value $100 billion to $200 billion. SPA didn’t present any up to date figures.

The dominion’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Funding Fund, is the cornerstone investor in NEOM, a 26,500-square-km (10,230-square-mile) high-tech improvement on the Crimson Sea with a number of zones, together with an industrial and logistics areas, deliberate for completion in 2025.

Reporting by Yousef Saba in Jeddah
Writing by Ghaida Ghantous
Modifying by Matthew Lewis

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