Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Sunday announced plans to build "The Line", a zero carbon city at NEOM.
The Crown Prince said in televised remarks that the city, which will be capable of housing one million residents, would comprise "carbon-positive urban developments powered by 100% clean energy.”
A statement said construction would start in Q1 2021 on the project, which is expected to contribute $48 billion to the Kingdom's GDP and provide 380,000 job opportunities by 2030.
The Crown Prince said "The Line" has "a length of 170 km that preserves 95 percent of nature within NEOM, with zero cars, zero streets and zero carbon emissions."
"Why should we sacrifice nature for the sake of development?" he asked.
"We need to transform the concept of a conventional city into that of a futuristic one," said the Crown Prince.
Crown Prince Mohammed later told reporters in the northwestern city of AlUla that the project was the conclusion of three years of preparation, adding that its infrastructure would cost $100 billion to $200 billion.
“The backbone of investment in ‘The Line’ will come from the $500 billion support to NEOM by the Saudi government, PIF and local and global investors over 10 years,” he added.
The Kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), 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.
A Saudi statement said construction would start in the first quarter of 2021 and that the city was expected to contribute $48 billion to the Kingdom’s gross domestic product and create 380,000 jobs.
