Saudi Arabia attempts to rescue its futuristic city The Line using funds from China

After turning to banks, Saudi Arabia is now looking towards China. Its flagship development project, the dystopian city The Line, is becoming a money pit — and the kingdom is looking for partners.

For almost a week, several representatives of The Line and Neom, the megaproject overseeing the others, participated in exhibitions and conferences in China, in the hope of convincing potential investors. They would have returned empty-handed, according to Business Insider

Saudi Arabia no longer wants to pay for The Line

Neom representatives visited Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong and met with potential investors, according to Business Insider. No agreement has been announced between the two countries. To AFP, Leonard Chan, president of the Hong Kong Innovative Technology Development Association, even explained that the reactions to The Line and Neom were “ essentially neutral. » « I would come to have fun, but I wouldn't live there. It feels like SimCity “, he also added.

The promoters of the project may not have had dazzling success in China, but that does not mean that the two countries do not collaborate at all. Agreements were made some time ago for Neom, as Nadhmi Al-Nasr recalled, its CEO. “ To date, Neom has already engaged with more than 15 major Chinese companies and invested in a number of Chinese startups (…) Collaboration with China will continue to play a vital role in Neom's development. »

The fact remains that the lack of a new partnership is a cold shower for the project promoters, who are trying to convince that Neom and The Line will be tourist successes. The two projects were presented as the future of the country, or even a “ civilizational revolution “. However, today, they seem to be piling up problems: plans for The Line have had to be scaled back considerably.

While The Line was supposed to accommodate 1.5 million inhabitants in 2030, the city officially only expects 300,000. Above all, it will not be completely completed on that date: on the 170 km long that it must do, only 2.4 km will be completed in 2030. On the site, work continues, but has fallen behind schedule.

While the project seems to be sinking, the price of the work could increase. The total cost of building Neom's various projects had been estimated at between $500 billion and $1.5 trillion, and the country no longer wants to pay alone. The PIF, the country's sovereign wealth fund, has already taken out loans from some banks, and Saudi Arabia also announced in early April that it would issue bonds for the first time.

Until then, it was the sovereign wealth fund which had financed the work of The Line and Neom on its own. But the fact that Saudi Arabia and Neom have recently increased initiatives to fill the coffers is an alarming signal. Will all projects be completed? Will The Line really be built? More than ever, doubt is allowed.