Updated November 11, 2025: The world’s first linear city continues to scale back its plans as the crown prince’s ambitions falter. The project is monumental as it forms part of the NEOM mega-project. Based on over 20 anonymous interviews, engineers have noted their struggles in realizing the prince’s grand architectural plans. Furthermore, the plans have been met with scrutiny and pushback due to their unrealistic designs and high costs. A planner noted that Mohammed bin Salman demanded that The Line “had to be 500m high and it had to be 200m across.” This is despite guidance that a 100m structure would be more feasible. The report revealed that the project’s ambitions were based on the whims of the crown prince.
By 2023, The Line had shrunk from a planned 20 modules to just three, and a senior construction manager described the project as “uninvestible”. At least $50bn has already been spent, with construction now in its third year. Despite this, the crown prince continued to dismiss concerns over growing costs and the project’s unrealistic timeline. The original plan envisioned 16km being completed by 2030, with the first residents expected as early as 2025. Latest report by Knight Frank provided insight into how gigaprojects such as NEOM are being deprioritized amid mounting delays and challenges. In July, it was reported that NEOM was considering laying off up to 1,000 employees, an estimated 20 percent of its full-time staff, in another sign that the kingdom was scaling back its flagship mega-project. Other than the Line, other projects such as NEOM’s Trojena desert ski project is also marred in delays and controversies as expectations to host the 2029 Winter Olympics falter.
April 9, 2024: The world’s first linear city has scaled back its ambitious plan to construct a 170km linear city in the desert of Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia’s NEOM has scaled back its wildly ambitious plan to build a 500m tall, mirrored, 170km long parallel skyscraper. The project once completed was expected to form a 1.5M population desert city. The scope of the project has now been remodeled with expectations being that the project will only stretch to 2.4km. The Saudi government had hoped to have 1.5M residents living in The Line by 2030. The change in plans though has scaled back the number to fewer than 300,000. It is unclear how it intends to house a higher concentration of people considering the proposed length (and therefore area) has been massively slashed. The change in plans is seen as Saudi Arabia is still expected to provide a 2024 budget for NEOM.
The Significance of the Curtailment of the World’s First Linear City Project: The Line
The change in plans for the world’s first linear city, The Line comes with unprecedented significance and setbacks. For starters, At least one contractor has started to dismiss a portion of the workers it employs on the site. This means that the number of employees who had been hired to work in the linear city will be significantly scaled down.
This means some of the contracted companies in the project will have to also scale down on the manpower and resources that had been set aside. This includes companies such as AtkinsRéalis and Jacobs who were appointed as delivery partners on The Line. It also includes Aecom and Bechtel who were appointed to provide project management services for the first phase of The Line. The scale-down of the world’s first linear city will also have an impact on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and its plans to diversify the economy.
The Progress of The Line So Far
The progression of the world’s first linear city had kicked off with NEOM announcing early last year the awarding of tenders. The tenders for the megaproject were expected to be issued before the end of the last quarter of 2023. The scope of these tenders included the construction of several building modules. It also entailed the construction of a hidden marina. Currently one of the world’s most active construction projects, NEOM has awarded more than $30B in contracts. The tenders issued ensured that the project would commence as per the stipulated timeline. The scale down in the length and area of the world’s first linear city means that the project has to go back to the drawing board. The Line was one of the most anticipated projects in the Saudi Kingdom as it was expected to revolutionize the construction industry.
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The Backlash on the Construction of The Line
The world’s first linear city has received a lot of ridicule, contempt, and backlash from some people in the international community. It is widely understood that contractors involved in NEOM sign non-disclosure agreements. This prevents them from sharing any information about projects including The Line. Authorities such as the UN Human Rights have often been seen decrying the state of the project and the controversial news around it. Nonetheless, the Saudi Arabian Kingdom ensures all projects are handled ethically and within the law. The curtailment of the world’s first linear city may delay the project’s delivery timeline, which had been set for the end of 2030.
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