Aerial Images Show Progress of Futuristic Saudi City ‘The Line’

May 01, 2025

Pesala Bandara

A split-image showing, on the left, a long rectangular construction site in a desert, and on the right, a digital rendering of a similar elongated city structure surrounded by water and greenery. — Artist’s conception of The Line (right) in Saudi Arabia and an aerial photo of the construction site (left).

New aerial images have revealed progress at the construction site for the world’s longest sideways skyscraper “The Line,” a planned city set to accommodate nine million people deep in the desert in Saudi Arabia.

The Line is a planned linear city — composed of two parallel, 656-foot-wide mirror-clad skyscrapers, each 170 kilometers long and 1,640 feet high with a width of 660 feet — that will stretch across Neom, Tabuk Province which is the northwest part of Saudi Arabia near the Red Sea.

The conceptual city, which is the brainchild of the ruler of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, will be housed inside the skyscraper building within an entirely glass mirror exterior. The futuristic metropolis will also have no cars, streets, or carbon emissions and will be powered by renewable energy.

A mirrored, rectangular building stretches across a desert landscape next to the sea, reflecting the sky and surroundings, with mountains and shallow turquoise waters visible in the background. — An artist’s image shows how The Line would extend to the Red sea.

Two people sit and talk near a small stream and greenery at the base of towering, futuristic glass and metal buildings, with more people walking in the background. Sunlight filters through the tall urban structures.

Futuristic concept art showing a mirrored linear city cutting through a desert landscape, with green trees on top, geometric architecture inside, and construction work in the foreground. — Artist images reveal how The Line would be home to nine million people.

Giles Pendleton, the operating officer of The Line, recently shared aerial photos of how the construction on the megaproject — which is the world’s largest building site — is progressing.

In the images posted on LinkedIn, the city’s ground infrastructure can be seen taking shape, with the 660-meter-wide outline of the city showing in the desert.

Aerial view of a large construction site in a desert, showing two long, parallel, rectangular concrete structures surrounded by sandy terrain, excavation work, and construction vehicles. The horizon is visible in the distance. — An aerial view of The Line’s progress shows the construction site.

The photos include images of more than 60 newly installed wind turbines and a construction site at the Oxagon harbor, a nearby industrial node. The images also show the purpose-built settlements used for workers, who live near the site.

Aerial view of a vast desert construction site with dirt roads, machinery, scattered structures, and cleared land under a hazy sky, surrounded by empty desert landscape.

Aerial view of a construction site with a large, rectangular harbor surrounded by sandy land, a crane, construction materials, and the sea visible in the background under a clear sky. — An aerial photo shows progress along the Red Sea.

Aerial view of multiple wind turbines spread across a vast, sandy desert landscape under a clear sky. Mountains are visible on the horizon. — Another aerial image shows wind turbines at the construction site.

“A good snapshot of progress and a range of NEOM infrastructure projects from the water pipeline to new camps completing to massive amount of work in Oxagon harbor,” Pendleton writes on LinkedIn.

“All are going well and shows things from a very different viewpoint from the air.”

Saudi authorities originally planned for The Line to house 1.5 million residents by 2030. However, the gigantic city in the middle of the desert will eventually accommodate nine million residents. About 2,800 staff already live and work at Neom.

Neom will also have a ski resort Trojena which will be available for skiers for three months every year, while the rest of the time tourists will be able to do watersports and mountain biking.

A futuristic, mirrored linear city stretches across a desert landscape beside the sea, reflecting sunlight and the coast, with water and islands in the foreground and arid terrain in the background. — An artist’s image shows how The Line would extend for more than 100 miles into Saudi Arabia from the Red Sea.

However, there have been reports that the construction of The Line has run into major financial problems. According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, capital expenditure estimates to build Neom to what officials call its “end-state” by 2080 have ballooned to $8.8 trillion, which is over 25 times the Saudi Arabian kingdom’s annual budget.

Image credits: All photos by NEOM.

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