Saudi Arabia’s futuristic megacity project is set to use up a fifth of the world’s steel supply, according to construction bosses.
The $1 trillion giga-project, called Neom, has been under development in Saudi Arabia since 2017.
Located in the Tabuk Province, at the northern tip of the Red Sea, Neom will encompass a number of ground-breaking concepts.
These include The Line, a coastal city just 170km-long and 200m wide city, without cars or streets. A train will carry residents back and forth down its center.
A description of The Line on Neom’s website reads: “No roads, cars or emissions, it will run on 100 percent renewable energy and 95 percent of land will be preserved for nature.”
While it’s not set to be complete until 2045, a central, 5km long section is projected to be up and running by 2030, Arabian Gulf Business Insight reports.
Neom will have plenty on offer for tourists too, boasting resorts including Trojena, set in the mountains, and the island destination Sindalah.
Meanwhile a floating industrial quarter, Oxagon, will serve as an oceanographic research center.
Neom’s chief investment officer, Manar Al Moneef, told the Global Logistics Forum that Neom would be the ‘largest customer’ for construction materials over the ‘next decade.’
Neom’s blueprint includes a floating industrial city (NEOM)
She said the project’s demand for steel would mean they make up ’20 percent of the global steel market.’
Al Moneef added: “If you look at our demand in elevators, cement and so on… put simply, Neom is going to be the largest customer over the next few decades.”
According to the Observatory of Economic Complexities, in 2022 the top importers of iron and steel were the United States ($43.2b), China ($41.4b), Germany ($36b), Italy ($30.2b), and Turkey ($25.6b).
That same year, Saudi Arabia imported just 0.98 percent, or $5.53b worth, of iron and steel.
Neom is part of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman’s policy programme Vision 2030, to diversify Saudi Arabia’s economy, including reducing the kingdom’s economic dependency on oil. The whole Neom project is projected to take up 26,500 km2 (10,200 sq mi) of land.
The revolutionary megacity has already received $28.7 billion, Bloombergreports, with the majority of that going towards the streamline city The Line.
Speaking in 2022 the Crown Prince, who is the de-facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, said: “We cannot ignore the liveability and environmental crises facing our world’s cities, and NEOM is at the forefront of delivering new and imaginative solutions to address these issues.”
He had originally planned to host nine million people in the city by 2030, but Bloomberg has reported that this estimate has been scaled back and just 300,000 people are currently set to live there by then.
