Saudi Arabia to build a desert skyscraper worth up to $1 trillion

01 Aug 2022 CW Team

Saudi Arabia plans to build a 75-mile-long desert skyscraper worth up to $1 trillion (£833 billion).

The Mirror Line will pass across mountains and desert before reaching the coast and joining the sea. It will house five million people and contain a high-speed train that runs beneath buildings, vertical farms, a sports stadium, and a yacht marina.

The breathtaking skyscraper will be the centrepiece of the Neom, a future megacity.

Neom, which will be the size of Massachusetts and will be located on the Red Sea, has been in the works for several years.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is behind the initiative, which aims to construct an architectural marvel as recognisable and timeless as Egypt's Pyramids. The Prince hopes to have the project done by 2030, but engineers believe it will take 50 years to complete.

Last year, the Saudi monarch announced the Mirror Line concept, claiming that his initiative would be "a civilisational revolution that puts humans first." He declared that the 105-mile "straight-line city" will be carbon zero, with no cars and no pollution.

He stated that the effort will allow a million residents to go from end to end in twenty minutes and meet within a five-minute walk.

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