His Royal Highness Prince Muhammad bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Crown Prince and Chairman of the Board of Directors of NEOM, announced the launch of the “The Line” city in NEOM, which is a model for what urban societies can be like in the future, and a scheme that ensures a balance to live with nature.

“The Line” will include cognitive, interconnected communities enhanced with artificial intelligence over a span of 170 km within an environment without noise or pollution, free of vehicles and congestion, and a direct response to the challenges of urbanization that hinder the progress of humanity, such as dilapidated infrastructure, environmental pollution, and urban and population sprawl.

The Line will work to achieve the goals of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 in terms of economic diversification by providing 380,000 job opportunities, and contributing to adding 180 billion riyals (48 billion US dollars) to the gross domestic product by 2030.

His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Crown Prince and Chairman of the Board of Directors, said: “Throughout the ages, cities were built in order to protect people in narrow spaces, and after the Industrial Revolution, cities were built to place the machine, the car and the factory before people. Cities that claim to be the best in The world, in which people spend years of their lives in order to move around, and this period will double in 2050, and one billion people will be displaced due to high carbon emissions and rising sea levels.

His Highness asked: “Why do we accept that we sacrifice nature for the sake of development? Why do 7 million people die annually due to pollution? Why do we lose one million people annually due to traffic accidents? And why do we accept that years of a person’s life are wasted in transportation?”

And His Highness continued: “We need to renew the concept of cities into future cities. Today, as Chairman of NEOM, I present to you” The Line “; a million-million city with a length of 170 km that preserves 95% of the nature in NEOM lands, zero cars, zero streets, and zero Carbon emissions. “

For the first time in more than 150 years, “The Line” city will redefine the concept of urban development through the development of societies in which the human being is its main focus. This enhances the quality of life and ensures access to all basic service facilities including medical centers, schools, and facilities. Entertainment, plus green spaces within a 5-minute walk, and high-speed transportation solutions will make commuting easier; The most distant journey on “The Line” is expected to last only 20 minutes, which will provide a living balance between a business environment that fosters innovation and an exceptional quality of life for residents.

“The Line” communities will be managed entirely by relying on artificial intelligence techniques to facilitate communication with humans in a way that enables them to anticipate and interact with unprecedented capabilities, thus saving residents and companies’ time.

Communities will be virtually interconnected with each other, as about 90% of the data will be harnessed to enhance infrastructure capabilities, while 1% of the data will be harnessed in the current smart cities.

“The Line” gives life on Earth a new meaning, and reflects an unparalleled approach to developing future cities in harmony with nature, as they will rely entirely on 100% clean energy, while ensuring a positive carbon future.

To build the economy of the future; NEOM will cooperate with specialized leaders from around the world to provide effective solutions to the urban expansion challenges that hinder the progress of humanity. The Line will be an attractive environment for innovators, entrepreneurs and investors.

It is worth noting that the start of development of “The Line” will take place during the first quarter of 2021, as it forms an important part of the intensive development work underway in NEOM.

The NEOM project is one of the mega projects within the diversified investment portfolio of the Public Investment Fund.