The world’s largest structure: Saudi Arabia’s $1 trillion, 75 miles long project
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Cash-rich Saudi Arabia had so far been building skyscrapers. Now it plans to construct a side-scraper—stretching 75 miles and housing around five million people as part of Neom, a hyper-futuristic desert city, the media reported on Monday.
And it might cost up to USD 1 trillion!
When completed, the Mirror Line project will run from the Gulf of Aqaba, bisecting a mountain range that extends along the coast. The mirrored buildings will continue east through a mountain resort and complex housing the Saudi government, according to a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) report that cited the planning documents.
Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman (MBS)’s urban planners have come out with a blueprint for the world’s largest structure, which includes two buildings up to 1,600 feet (488 meters) in height, running parallel for 75 miles (121 km) in a line across the coastal, mountain and desert terrain, the WSJ reported.
The Crown Prince wants to complete the project by 2030, but experts say it could take half a century!
The 2,600-foot-long structures connecting along a line will have varying heights of up to 1,600 feet, higher than the Empire State Building in New York.
According to some reports, the structure must be constructed in parts. MBS first revealed the idea in 2021 while wishing to build a city with no cars and zero pollution.
The project, Mirror Line, is taking shape from the vision of MBS to build a desert city called Neom. At a private meeting last year, he told those working on this project that he wanted to build his own pyramid.
US-based Morphosis Architects has designed the project and involves at least nine top-notch design and engineering consultants. The builders propose to build it in stages by creating 2,600-foot-long structures connecting along a line.
To feed the five million people it wants to house in the ambitious project, vegetables will be autonomously harvested and bundled, then moved into community canteens and co-living kitchens. The residents will have to pay a subscription to be served food.
According to the plan, a high-speed train will run under the buildings. The Mirror Line project also plans a sports stadium up to 1,000 feet above the ground and a marina for the yachts underneath an arch in the two parallel buildings.
Neom is a carbon-zero city being built linearly and will be 170 km long, similar to the size of the US state of Massachusetts. The city will be owned by the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund. The Crown Prince wants the city to be a destination for foreign investment and a center for new jobs.
They will connect the two buildings via walkways, and any location within the city will be accessible within a five-minute walk. The longest journey will be a maximum of 20 minutes.
One of the Mirror Line’s unique features is its eight-sided buildings. It will contain a mountain resort, suspended sports complex, and a marina to dock yachts. It will integrate vertical farming into the building to feed the five million people it intends to house.
“The Mirror Line is a project that is a civilizational revolution putting humans first,” MBS had said while unveiling the project in January 2021.
A big challenge for the structure, however, is the shade created. A lack of sunlight could be harmful to health.
And the development also faces a challenge because of the earth’s curvature.
