Crazy Saudi project

New pictures show: The madness picks up speed

While hotels are already springing up on the luxury island of Sindalah, the foundations are still being laid at The Line.(Bild: Giles Pendleton, Krone kreativ)

170 kilometers long, 200 meters wide, 500 meters high - the Saudi Arabian government's crazy project in the middle of the desert is picking up speed. Thousands of excavators and trucks are moving millions of cubic meters of sand and rock every day. New images show the progress of the world's largest construction project: NEOM.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced the major project with an investment volume of 500 billion US dollars back in 2017. At the time, even the experts believed it was more of a marketing stunt than a serious undertaking given its enormous scale. 

By 2022, when the first excavators arrived, and by 2023 the sand was flying through the air, The Line - as the city project is called - also received a lot of media attention. The Line is one of five NEOM projects that aim to make Saudi Arabia the hub of the world: