At the beginning of the year, Neom was in the news almost every week. Renders, videos, and various information created significant buzz about the ambitious project Saudi Arabia was undertaking: a futuristic urban area in the middle of the desert. However, as months passed, the project appeared to stall. The latest updates focused on influencers “selling” a lifestyle in the early stages of the project, which didn’t reflect well. Now, new information provides a broader perspective on the project’s activity.
The news. Recent data on the construction of The Line, a linear smart city, has just been released. This information highlights the enormous challenge of transforming a vast expanse of inhospitable desert into an urban area reminiscent of a science fiction novel. Notably, it consumes one-fifth of the world’s steel.
The Line is arguably the most crucial element of Saudi Arabia’s Neom project. It’s part of a larger initiative to shift the country’s predominantly oil-based economy towards one focused on luxury tourism, especially as fossil fuel consumption presumably declines in the coming years.
Context of an unprecedented development. Spanning 10,232 square miles in the northwestern part of the country along the Red Sea coast, Neom is surrounded by an ambitious $1.5 trillion project moving forward at breakneck speed to create a new way of life.
The plan for The Line is to stretch over an area of 105 miles, although its first phase, scheduled for completion in 2030, will cover “only” 1.5 miles. Regardless, it will be a staggering achievement, planned to reach a height of 1,640 feet and a width of 656 feet. A mirrored exterior, not without controversy, will enclose the project. The Line will house an air-conditioned city of around 300,000 people, featuring AI technology and extensive surveillance to monitor everything from garbage collection to water usage.
How? To make this project a reality, Saudi authorities have commissioned a new, nearly $190 million multi-story concrete factory capable of producing up to 706,293 cubic feet of concrete per day. Most of this material will be allocated to The Line, with the remainder directed toward other Neom projects.
In addition, according to project managers, more than 100,000 workers are busy 24 hours a day, seven days a week, removing vast amounts of dirt to prepare for the massive foundation. As a press release stated, work on the foundation piles is also progressing, with nearly 1,000 of more than 30,000 piles already in place.
The steel is in Neom. It’s no wonder this project, 24 times the size of Hong Kong, is currently consuming one-fifth of all the steel produced in the world. According to Arabian Gulf Business Insight, Neom chief investment officer Manar Al Moneef recently said, “Neom is going to be the largest customer over the next decade. If you look at our demand in logistics it’s 5 percent of the global logistics market.”
This news follows a recent promise to be more transparent about the construction process to reassure investors and secure additional funding.
Steel in context. If you’re wondering whether Neom’s steel consumption is on the high, or low, side, here are some numbers. According to World Steel, the world produced nearly 1.9 billion tons of crude steel in 2023. Neom consumed 20% of that, amounting to 380 million tons. In comparison, the U.S. consumed only 104 million tons in 2022.
In other words, Neom’s consumption is approximately 3.65 times that of the entire U.S., which, along with its immense scale, underscores that the project is undoubtedly still progressing.
Image | Neom
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