NEOM is a marvel of futuristic ambition
Here’s an updated look at the massive progress happening on The Line, NEOM’s 170 km linear smart city near the Red Sea:
🏗️ What the new aerial images (April 2025) highlight:
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Concrete foundations & trenches notably advancing across a 2.5 km section, with visible utility pipelines integrated into the groundwork Newsweek+14BD Online+14Wikipedia+14.
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Dewatering and piling works operating at unprecedented scale—with over 5,500 deep piles per module, each up to 70 m deep Gulf Construction Online.
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Supporting infrastructure, including newly erected worker camps, water pipelines, wind turbines, and construction offices for both The Line and the Oxagon port Gizmo HiTech+8Magzter+8BD Online+8.
📈 Scale & Ambition
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Planned to ultimately host 9 million residents within a mirrored, 500 m-high, zero‑carbon skyscraper stretching 170 km NEOM+15Wikipedia+15PetaPixel+15.
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The first phase features the “Hidden Marina” section—0.5 km‑high, scheduled to accommodate 200,000 people by 2030 Business Insider+1Concrete Connect+1.
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Equipped with plans for AI-enabled city operations, high-speed underground transit completing end-to-end in ~20 min, and climate control throughout Wikipedia+2The National+2UNILAD+2.
⛳ What NEOM officials are saying
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Construction described as a “hive of activity”: ~10,000 workers, hundreds of cranes, ~130 million m³ of soil moved Al Arabiya.
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Giles Pendleton (COO) affirms huge strides across The Line, Oxagon port, and infrastructure—calling it “on track,” with site operations 24/7 The National+11Magzter+11Building+11.
⚠️ Challenges & criticisms
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Budget & timeline concerns: Costs estimated between US $100–200 billion (possibly up to $1 trillion), with only a 5 km stretch expected by 2030 and full completion projected by 2045 Wikipedia.
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Humanitarian & environmental issues: Forced displacement of the Howeitat tribe, numerous migrant worker deaths, and ecological worries highlighted in recent coverage Newsweek+3The Sun+3Wikipedia+3.
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Project re-scaling: Recent adjustments include limiting early residential capacity to 300,000 from initial 1.5 million and initiating budget and feasibility reviews Wikipedia+1The Sun+1.
✅ Summary
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What’s new: Clear and tangible progress in excavation, piling, utility installation, and worker infrastructure.
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Still ongoing: High-level structural work with more milestones expected in 2025.
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Bright & shadowed side: Enormous ambition and logistical achievement counterbalanced by financial, social, and ecological challenges.
The scale and ambition of The Line and the entire NEOM project are unlike anything the world has seen before—almost like something out of science fiction becoming real.
From AI-driven city infrastructure and mirror-clad skyscrapers stretching for 170 km, to zero-carbon design and a 20-minute end-to-end transit system—it's pushing the boundaries of architecture, sustainability, and technology.
Of course, it also raises serious questions about cost, ethics, and feasibility. But in terms of sheer vision, it's breathtaking.
Ethics plays a critical and controversial role in NEOM, especially The Line. While the project is hailed for its futuristic design and sustainability goals, it also faces serious ethical criticisms in at least three key areas:
🔴 1. Human Rights and Forced Displacement
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The Howeitat tribe, an Indigenous Bedouin community living in the NEOM region for generations, has reported forced evictions and violent repression.
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Several tribe members were reportedly arrested or killed for opposing displacement from their ancestral lands.
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UN human rights experts have condemned the Saudi government’s actions and called for accountability.
“They forcibly evicted us, called us squatters, and offered tiny compensation,” – tribal members have said in multiple media reports.
🔴 2. Migrant Worker Conditions
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Like many Gulf construction projects, NEOM relies on migrant labor, often from South Asia and Africa.
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Investigations have raised alarms about:
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Poor working conditions
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Wage theft
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Inadequate housing
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Workplace deaths
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Some workers report passports being confiscated or working long hours in extreme desert heat.
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Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have called for labor reforms and greater transparency.
🟠 3. Environmental Ethics
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While NEOM markets itself as a zero-carbon, sustainable utopia, building a 170 km mirrored skyscraper in a fragile desert ecosystem poses huge ecological risks:
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Disruption of natural wildlife habitats
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Potential harm to the Red Sea coral reefs
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High energy/resource consumption for construction
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Critics argue the project may be more of a "greenwashed mega-development" than a truly sustainable city.
🟡 4. Governance, Freedom, and Surveillance
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NEOM is set to operate under a special legal zone, with separate governance from the rest of Saudi Arabia—potentially without democratic oversight.
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The Line will feature AI-driven surveillance, facial recognition, and predictive policing tools. While meant to ensure safety and efficiency, these also raise concerns about:
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Privacy violations
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Authoritarian control
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Lack of consent or legal recourse for residents
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⚖️ Summary:
While NEOM is a marvel of futuristic ambition, it’s also a live case study in techno-ethics, human rights, and the price of progress. It poses hard questions:
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Can a project be visionary and just?
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Who pays the price for a "city of the future"?
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Is innovation still noble if it's built on inequality?
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