The Saudi Arabia Vision,2030

In 2016, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced the Saudi Vision 2030; the vision was structured around three key themes: a vibrant society, a thriving economy, and an ambitious nation. In setting out and hopefully achieving these goals, the country should be able to diversify its economy by reducing its dependency on oil. The plan is similar to other development plans in the Middle East, like the Kuwait Vision 2035, Egypt Vision 2030 and UAE Vision 2021. There are many major projects that have been planned, such as the New Taif project and the Renewable Energy project. But the one shocking everyone is the NEOM project.

The NEOM project is a planned smart city located in the Tabuk Province in north-western Saudi Arabia. The city's plans include multiple regions, including a floating industrial complex, global trade hub, tourist resorts, and a linear cityall powered exclusively by renewable energy sources. The hope of developers is to have this massive project complete by 2030, but experts are sceptic. The project's estimated cost is over $500 billion. The project has been the subject of several human rights controversies, involving the eviction of the local population, an abusive work culture, and the use of surveillance technologies. Nonetheless, work is still continuing. There are multiple planned regions inside this smartcity,including:

The Line: a linear city spanning 170 kilometres long and 200 metres wide. The plans of this city have been ever changing since its announcement in January 2021. The city is to be car free and be large enough to house nine millionresidents.

Trojena: announced in March 2022, this region is to be the first major outdoor skiing destination in the Arabian Peninsula. Trojena will be located in the Sarwat Mountains, off of the Gulf Aqaba Coast. Despite being located in the desert, the climate is considerably cooler thentherestofthissmartcity.

Sindalah: This project plans to be a 1,100,000 cubic yard luxury resort complex off of the city’s coast. It plans to have 86 berth marina, three luxury hotels and could potentiallyaccommodateupto2,400visitorsdaily.