Riyadh: Saudi Arabia is planning to construct the world’s largest buildings in a mostly unpopulated part of the country. The plan is a part of an entirely new $500 billion development called Neom, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.
As per the report, Neom, the brainchild of Saudi Crown Prince and de facto ruler Mohammed bin Salman, is planning to build twin skyscrapers about 500 meters (1,640 feet) tall that would stretch horizontally for dozens of miles.
People familiar with the matter told the news agency that the skyscrapers would house a mix of residential, retail and office space running from the Red Sea coast into the desert.
They said that the plan of the government is a shift from the concept announced last year of building a string of developments linked by underground hyper-speed rail, into a long continuous structure.
As oil prices ramp up Saudi Arabia plans world's biggest building, $500 billion development called Neom pic.twitter.com/2KXYWao8qK
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According to current and former Neom employees, the designers have been instructed to work on a half mile-long prototype. If the project goes forward in full, each structure would be larger than the world’s current biggest buildings, most of which are factories or malls rather than residential communities, they said.
The plan was earlier announced in 2017 and Neom is Prince Mohammed’s major plan to turn a remote region of the country into a high-tech semi-autonomous state that re-imagines urban life.
Notably, the project is part of his plans to attract foreign investment and help diversify the Saudi economy away from a reliance on oil sales.
“The Line is an out of the box idea,” Neom chief executive office Nadhmi Al-Nasr told Bloomberg, adding, “What we will present when we are ready to will be very well received, and will be viewed as revolutionary.”
According to him, the buildings would be ‘different heights as you go,’ adapting to the landscape, with their final size determined by engineering considerations and the terrain.
It must be noted that the Middle East is already home to the world’s tallest building, Dubai’s Burj Khalifa. Long before Prince Mohammed, Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal had announced plans to build the world’s tallest building near Jeddah.
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