The Line, a Saudi Megaproject, Is Dead

When Saudi Arabia unveiled The Line, it was presented as a vision of the future. A 170-kilometer-long city with no cars, no streets, and no carbon emissions, The Line promised to reshape how humans live. It was the centerpiece of NEOM, the kingdom’s ambitious plan to diversify its economy beyond oil.
But years after the announcement, a growing number of experts, investors, and observers are asking the same question: Is The Line effectively dead?
While Saudi officials have not officially canceled the project, mounting evidence suggests that The Line, as originally imagined, is no longer realistic.
What Was The Line Supposed to Be?
The Line was announced in 2021 as a linear smart city built in the Saudi desert near the Red Sea. According to its designers:
The city would house up to nine million people
It would run entirely on renewable energy
Residents could reach daily needs within five minutes
A high-speed rail system would allow end-to-end travel in 20 minutes
No cars, no roads, and no traditional infrastructure
The city’s mirrored walls, rising hundreds of meters high, were meant to reflect nature and minimize land use. It was bold, futuristic, and controversial from the start.
The Reality Sets In
As construction began, problems quickly surfaced.
1. Unrealistic Engineering Challenges
Building two parallel skyscrapers stretching across 170 kilometers is something the world has never attempted. Engineers raised concerns about:
Structural stability
Wind pressure
Heat management
Emergency evacuation
Long-term maintenance
The technology required either did not exist or had never been tested at this scale.
2. Soaring Costs
Initial estimates put the cost of NEOM at over $500 billion, with The Line as the most expensive part. Rising global inflation, supply chain issues, and construction costs pushed that number even higher.
Reports began to surface that Saudi planners were quietly cutting back the project’s scope to manage expenses.
Scaling Back the Dream
Instead of canceling The Line outright, Saudi Arabia appears to be shrinking it dramatically.
Sources familiar with the project suggest:
Only a small section of The Line may be built in the near future
Population targets have been reduced significantly
Focus has shifted to more practical developments within NEOM
This shift has fueled the belief that The Line, as originally sold to the world, will never exist.
Economic Pressures Behind the Scenes
Saudi Arabia’s economy is still heavily dependent on oil revenue. While oil prices have helped fund Vision 2030, the kingdom is also juggling:
Massive infrastructure spending
Global economic uncertainty
Rising domestic costs
Investor skepticism
International investors have reportedly expressed concerns about returns, making funding harder to secure. Mega-ambitions are impressive, but they must still make financial sense.
Human and Environmental Criticism
The Line also faced serious backlash from human rights groups and environmental experts.
Displacement Issues
Local tribes were reportedly forced to relocate to make way for construction. This led to international criticism and damaged the project’s global image.
Environmental Concerns
Ironically, a project marketed as “green” raised alarms about:
Wildlife disruption
Bird collisions with mirrored walls
Desert ecosystem damage
Enormous carbon emissions during construction
These concerns weakened public and investor confidence even further.
Why Saudi Arabia Won’t Admit It’s Over
Saudi leadership rarely announces failure, especially on projects tied to national pride. Instead of canceling The Line, officials appear to be:
Rebranding goals
Adjusting timelines
Redirecting attention to other NEOM projects
This allows the government to save face while quietly moving on.
In many ways, The Line has become more of a conceptual symbol than an actual city plan.
What NEOM Becomes Without The Line
NEOM itself is not dead. Other projects within the region, such as:
Oxagon (industrial hub)
Trojena (mountain tourism)
Luxury coastal developments
These are far more achievable and already showing progress. By focusing on these, Saudi Arabia can still claim success under Vision 2030.
The Line, however, was the most extreme and risky part of the plan.
A Lesson in Megaproject Reality
The rise and fall of The Line offers a powerful lesson:
Vision matters, but execution matters more
Technology cannot be willed into existence
Cities grow organically, not by decree
Human, environmental, and economic factors cannot be ignored
History is filled with grand projects that looked perfect on paper but failed in reality.
Is The Line Truly Dead?
Officially? No.
Practically? Almost certainly.
What remains is a scaled-down fragment, far removed from the bold vision that once captured headlines. The dream of a 170-kilometer mirrored city housing millions appears to have collided with real-world limits.
The Line may survive as a marketing idea, a case study, or a futuristic prototype. But as a full city? That future now seems extremely unlikely.
Conclusion
“The Line, a Saudi Megaproject, Is Dead” may sound dramatic, but it reflects a growing consensus. The world watched as Saudi Arabia attempted to leap decades into the future in one move.
Ambition alone, however, cannot overcome physics, economics, and human reality.
The Line will be remembered not as the city that changed the world—but as a reminder that even the richest nations must respect the limits of possibility.
Sometimes, the future arrives more slowly than we expect.