Saudi Arabia's $500 billion Neom project is set to be home to a record-setting 120km-long skyscraper called the Mirror Line.
According to documents seen by The Wall Street Journal, the world’s largest structure will comprise two buildings up to 490 metres tall, running parallel for 120 kilometres.
The structures will be connected by walkways and a high-speed train will run beneath.
Following on the heels of the WSJ report, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Monday said The Line, in the kingdom’s $500 billion giga-project Neom, will “embody how urban communities will be in the future”.
Prince Mohammed announced the designs of The Line, which “puts human first, providing an unprecedented urban” living experience while preserving nature.
“The idea of layering city functions vertically, giving people possibility of moving seamlessly in three dimensions to access them, is a concept referred to as Zero Gravity Urbanism,” Prince Mohammed said.
The Mirror Line is designed by the US-based Morphosis Architects and the project involves at least nine other design and engineering consultancies.
They proposed building it in stages by creating 790-metre-long structures of varying heights up to 490 metres that will connect in a line.
The project builds on Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's announcement in January of plans to create a linear community that is expected to cost up to a trillion dollars and house about five million people when complete.
Prince Mohammed said the entire 170-kilometre coastal strip in the north-west of Saudi Arabia would be free of cars and streets, with zero carbon emissions.
The Mirror Line is one of a series of projects that make up Neom.
Four other developments, Neom Bay, Aqaba Region, Neom Mountain and Neom Industrial City, are intended to surround it.
There is also the planned project named the Vault which is a resort built into a mountainside.
Unveiled by Prince Mohammed in 2017, Neom is Saudi Arabia's flagship business and tourism development on the Red Sea coast and a central project in the 2030 Vision outlining the kingdom's plans to diversify the economy.
The development will include smart towns and cities, ports and enterprise areas, research centres, sports and entertainment venues and tourist centres.
It will be spread across 26,500 square kilometres and will comprise several zones, including industrial and logistics areas, all planned for completion in 2025.
People are expected to begin arriving in 2024, Neom's head of tourism said. The area is predicted to be home to millions by 2030.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
More on animal trafficking
'Munich: The Edge of War'
Director: Christian Schwochow
Starring: George MacKay, Jannis Niewohner, Jeremy Irons
Rating: 3/5
Meatless Days
Sara Suleri, with an introduction by Kamila Shamsie
Penguin
India Test squad
Kohli (c), Dhawan, Rahul, Vijay, Pujara, Rahane (vc), Karun, Karthik (wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), Ashwin, Jadeja, Kuldeep, Pandya, Ishant, Shami, Umesh, Bumrah, Thakur
The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on
Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins
Read part one: how cars came to the UAE
Super Bowl LIII schedule
What Super Bowl LIII
Who is playing New England Patriots v Los Angeles Rams
Where Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, United States
When Sunday (start time is 3.30am on Monday UAE time)
Pari
Produced by: Clean Slate Films (Anushka Sharma, Karnesh Sharma) & KriArj Entertainment
Director: Prosit Roy
Starring: Anushka Sharma, Parambrata Chattopadhyay, Ritabhari Chakraborty, Rajat Kapoor, Mansi Multani
Three stars
The Greatest Royal Rumble card
50-man Royal Rumble - names entered so far include Braun Strowman, Daniel Bryan, Kurt Angle, Big Show, Kane, Chris Jericho, The New Day and Elias
Universal Championship Brock Lesnar (champion) v Roman Reigns in a steel cage match
WWE World Heavyweight ChampionshipAJ Styles (champion) v Shinsuke Nakamura
Intercontinental Championship Seth Rollins (champion) v The Miz v Finn Balor v Samoa Joe
United States Championship Jeff Hardy (champion) v Jinder Mahal
SmackDown Tag Team Championship The Bludgeon Brothers (champions) v The Usos
Raw Tag Team Championship (currently vacant) Cesaro and Sheamus v Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt
Casket match The Undertaker v Rusev
Singles match John Cena v Triple H
Cruiserweight Championship Cedric Alexander v Kalisto
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Grubtech
Founders: Mohamed Al Fayed and Mohammed Hammedi
Launched: October 2019
Employees: 50
Financing stage: Seed round (raised $2 million)
More coverage from the Future Forum
The five pillars of Islam
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
The years Ramadan fell in May
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Read more about the coronavirus
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
Zayed Sustainability Prize
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Zayed Sustainability Prize
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Zayed Sustainability Prize
EA%20Sports%20FC%2024
%3Cp%3EDeveloper%3A%20EA%20Vancouver%2C%20EA%20Romania%3Cbr%3EPublisher%3A%20EA%20Sports%3Cbr%3EConsoles%3A%20Nintendo%20Switch%2C%20PlayStation%204%26amp%3B5%2C%20PC%20and%20Xbox%20One%3Cbr%3ERating%3A%203.5%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
More on Quran memorisation:
