Saudi Arabia scales back 2030 expectations for The Line

Bloomberg reported on April 5, 2024, that officials for Saudi Arabia’s $500 billion “The Line” project have scaled back their 2030 expectations on the number of residents from 1.5 million to 300,000.

“The Line” is a 170-kilometer linear city, part of the broader Neom project, which will consist of two 500-meter-tall mirror-clad skyscrapers measuring some 200 meters apart.

This scaling back on the number of residents is proportional to the project’s progress, which has also been scaled back and is now expected to have realized some 2.4 kilometers of the structure by 2030.

Bloomberg reported that they have also seen a document stating that at least one of the project’s contractors has dismissed some of their workers employed on the site, as a result of the setback.

They also said that representatives for Neom and the kingdom’s Public Investment Fund, which are mainly responsible for the project’s funding, declined to provide comments.

It is worth noting that the main reason behind this drawback is that Neom’s budget for 2024 has not yet been approved by the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund, according to Bloomberg.

Hence, deviations from the original goals that had been set to be achieved by 2030 are expected in some Neom projects, but officials are maintaining their overall objectives regarding The Line.

Finally, Neom’s first region to open for guests is Sindalah, a luxury island resort, which is scheduled to open this year.