Saudi Arabia has been left humiliated after being forced to scale back its multi-trillion-dollar plans for a 106-mile linear megacity in the desert to just over one per cent of its original length.
The ambitious project, named the Line, forms part of the kingdom's lucrative Neom infrastructure project - which had been slated to cost up to $1.5trillion.
But issues with contractors have stunted the growth of the Line; one firm has already laid off workers as goals have shifted to sorting out the construction of three short segments of the project - amounting to 1.5 miles in total - by 2030.
While planners had always circled 2045 as the target to finish the entire metropolis' construction, developers had abandoned long-term necessities like excavations and underground work in favour of getting the first 1.5 miles ready, according to reports.
This image shows the sheer size of the Line and the Neom development - over double the size of the state of Qatar
GB News
This is just the latest in a line of setbacks for the Line - a 2026 launch had originally been tabled, but with this news, the chances of hitting such a deadline appear slim.
It has also been hindered by Prime Minister Prince Mohammed Bin Salman’s changing ideas for the project, significant overspends and ongoing staff turnover issues - some who have worked on the project have called it "untethered from reality".
While critics from outside Saudi Arabia have long questioned the feasibility of executing its original vision - not least due to the fact it's meant to house millions in a glass-edged megastructure in the Arabian desert.
In 2045, when it's due to be completed, the Line should be home to nine million people - but expectations have been lowered from a target population of 1.5 million to 300,000 in 2030, according to a report by Bloomberg.
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The Line has also been hindered by Prime Minister Prince Mohammed Bin Salman’s changing visions
Getty/Neom
Just a few hundred metres wide, but hundreds of miles long, the Line had been promoted as a revolutionary futuristic vision of city planning, with amenities for residents within walking distance from offices and accommodation - all connected via high speed train.
Press releases from Neom have described the Line as a "spectacular" and "cognitive" and a "civilisation revolution".
While Prince Mohammed had said the project would be "tackling the challenges facing humanity in urban life today" and would "shine a light on alternative ways to live".
Ali Shihabi, who sits on Neom's advisory board, decried reports that the cut-back on the Line represented a backtrack by by developers.
Prince Mohammed Bin Salman had claimed the project would "shine a light on alternative ways to live"
Getty
Shihabi said: "Early on, the Line was planned in modules each 800 metres long with an initial core of three modules, and the rest to be built according to demand - so this is not new or recent news."
Further promotional material reads: "No roads, cars or emissions, [the Line] will run on 100 per cent renewable energy and 95 per cent of land will be preserved for nature. People's health and wellbeing will be prioritized over transportation and infrastructure, unlike traditional cities."
But critics have flagged the fact that a number of the technologies Neom have been pushing do not exist, while the project has already cost human lives.
Several members of the local Howeitat tribe who had protested the plans which would see construction on their ancestral lands were executed, according to reports.
