Saudia Arabia tapping UK expertise to build 105-mile strip city in desert
Kingdom hoping to attract 1m residents to the Line by 2030, as part of its Neom project, finds
Rugby fans were left puzzled this year after seeing the Line, a futuristic city in the Saudi Arabian desert, being advertised during the Six Nations.
The ads promoted an audacious, and some might think far-fetched, plan to launch a 105-mile strip city in 2030 with no cars, roads or carbon emissions. Instead, the Line will run on renewable energy, providing shelter to 1m residents.
It is yet another scheme dreamt up by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as part of his £400bn Neom project – a desert settlement where residents can visit glow-in-the-dark beaches, watch cage-fighting robots and drink alcohol. Either way, the Line could prove a lucrative opportunity for British construction businesses, although many remain sceptical. “Everyone seems to have got some work, or at least been sounded out,” said one staffer at a UK firm. “Though everyone has got nerves speaking about it.” It comes at a critical point for Bin Salman: oil prices remain low and youth unemployment remains high.
International construction firms Aecom and Bechtel have already been awarded construction contracts with a focus on developing transport plans.
Although it has been talked down by Saudi officials, a key reason for the project is to combat the dominance of Dubai in the area. Saudi finance minister Mohammed al-Jadaan told Reuters in February that Neom and Dubai would “complement each other”, but the project is being operated alongside more hostile policies.
Earlier this year, “Project HQ” was announced by Saudi leaders. Under the scheme, companies that want to work with the Saudi government on investment opportunities or contracts must be based in the country, according to Al-Jadaan.
Al-Jadaan told Reuters that “if a company refused to move their headquarters to Saudi Arabia it is absolutely their right and they will continue to have the freedom to work with the private sector in Saudi Arabia, but as long as it is related to the government contracts, they must have their regional HQ here.” Despite the strong rhetoric, business leaders in the Gulf believe that as with Neom, it remains to be seen how reality fairs.
Therein lies the issue with Neom, according to Anthony Harris from insurance broker Tysers. “You can hire loads of consultants. That’s very easy in principle,” he says. “The issue of trying to take business away from Abu Dhabi and Dubai will be quite difficult.
“Abu Dhabi and Dubai succeeded because the private sector had a lot of rope to do things itself, and attracted many small businesses, while in Saudi Arabia everything is comparatively slow and largely depends on megaprojects.”
Despite the constraints, investors and corporations are still interested in the project. Air Products and Chemicals announced it would construct the world’s largest green hydrogen plan as part of Neom, in conjunction with ACWA Power. Events were held last year with the UK Government’s
Department for International Trade, which highlighted opportunities for investment in the Neom project.
Major US corporations have been invited to discuss “co-developing [and] co-investing” their technologies in Neom’s research and development hub, according to emails seen by The Sunday Telegraph from the Saudi consulate in the US. “The big corporations are waiting to see,” said one source. “There could be a lot of work and investment opportunities but people are waiting. They wanted people to rush in and put money on the table but that just hasn’t happened. People are too worried about the oil price, and there is a perception in boardrooms of potential backlash due to human rights – especially how internal opposition and women are treated.”
Another sticking point is the simple issues surrounding building a city from scratch. Hugo Thistlethwayte, head of global residential operations for Savills, said the issues formed a “chicken and egg” dilemma. “It’s ‘chicken and egg’ about getting people to live there. People will move because of opportunities and jobs, but firms won’t move there unless there is a talent pool.”
One million residents in nine years is a long stretch from the current position, and it will be hard to attract huge investments or commitments until investors can see which way the tide is heading on the Red Sea.