Saudi prince Mohammed bin Salman is continuing with plans for the Neom development, a luxurious skyscraper city with two mirrored buildings, 1,600 feet tall and extending horizontally, in parallel, for 75 miles. The project, known as the Mirror Line, is intended to house over 5 million people; it has enormous expected costs — over a trillion dollars — and some experts and architects have said that the project could take 50 years to complete. Neom will incorporate sports stadiums, a marina for yachts, and a high-speed train, and it will integrate vertical crops into the building. The elitist city sounds like a dream home for billionaires with too much time on their hands.
The kingdom has had a hard time raising foreign investment for the project because of its human-rights abuses and the 2018 murder of Jamal Khashoggi. But MBS, hoping to build up national infrastructure and hasten growth, has leveraged windfall oil revenues during the ongoing energy crisis to attract financial support for the project. He has set a 2030 deadline for a national transformation project in Saudi Arabia.
These plans arrive at a time of greater diversification of the Saudi economy. For years, experts and critics have argued that a shortage in the supply of Saudi oil would result in economic recession for a country whose economy is so dependent on it. Consequently, MBS perceives his ambitious plans for Neom and national infrastructure as a means to diversify the economy and change the global image of Saudi Arabia, as well as increasing tourism.
Saudi Arabia is not the only Arab country that seeks to diversify its economy and reduce dependence on oil. For the past decade, other oil-rich Middle Eastern nations such as the United Arab Emirates have moved forward with plans to increase investment in infrastructure and development in order to boost their tourism industries. Moreover, the Abraham Accords, which strengthened relations between Israel and several Arab nations, are not only a political but also an economic agreement. Israel has a booming economy, with stunning success in technology, medical research and development, and financial services, and neighboring countries have taken note, especially those reliant on oil and other natural resources. MBS may see Neom and his infrastructure goals as the way to build something greater than an oil empire.