From the very beginning, executive leaders have been grappling with a host of challenging questions aimed at management. “We made considerable efforts to alert leadership, particularly those on the board, about these risks,” stated a senior executive involved in the project.

A key concern is the origin of the 9 million people expected to inhabit The Line. Determining a realistic timeline for their arrival poses another issue. Can construction and manufacturing be expedited to meet deadlines? There are fears about the economic repercussions of high import levels—could they potentially overheat the economy? And what if Saudi Arabia’s oil revenues, the nation’s financial lifeblood, were to plummet? The availability of essential materials is another pressing concern, as is the question of whether the Gulf region possesses the scientific and technical capabilities to successfully undertake such a monumental project.

Despite these uncertainties, the urgency to produce results remains unyielding. The board demands swift action from the chief executive, according to the senior executive. “The crown prince was given dates for achievable milestones, but these promises lacked the practical details of execution,” noted a senior design manager. Once these deadlines were announced publicly, failing to meet them would be embarrassing. “That’s when tensions started to rise,” they explained.

Employees found themselves in a difficult position, often having to misrepresent the timelines and costs associated with bringing the vision to life, they added.

The current state of The Line is already visible from space. Satellite images reveal significant progress, including excavation and tunneling for the railway system—a “spine” that links The Line to Neom International Airport, extending 150 kilometers from the coast into the Hejaz mountains.

The Line — or at least its beginnings — can already be seen from space. Satellite imagery shows excavation and tunnelling work for the railway system, the “spine” connecting The Line to Neom International Airport, stretching for 150km — from the coast into the Hejaz mountains.

In a valley between two mountain ranges, levelling work is evident for the airport and its runways. “In true Neom fashion, there’s a mountain at the end of the runway that had to be blown up,” said the senior architect. Construction work has now stopped on both the spine and the airport. No new target for the airport has been set.

The foundations for The Line’s first modules — perhaps the largest piles ever laid by man — are also visible, waiting to support the world’s largest occupied building, if it ever arrives. The village of Qayal, which was a few kilometres from the “hidden marina”, has been razed. Fifteen members of the Huwaitat tribe who protested against their eviction were sent to prison, some for up to 50 years, and three others were sentenced to death, according to human rights observers.

At the marina, excavations by late last year had dug out 100mn cubic metres of soil, the equivalent of 40 Great Pyramids of Giza. Ships will access it via a canal leading more than a kilometre inland from the coast.

The chandelier, the upside-down office building hanging from the giant arch above the marina, remains in the plans. But Neom no longer intends to base its headquarters there. Neom’s deputy chief executive Rayan Fayez acknowledged last month that the project’s budget “evolves every day”, adding that it was a good point to “reassess what worked and what hasn’t worked”.

With the goal now to build just three of the 20 modules originally planned, the ambition for The Line’s first phase is a faint echo of what it once was. One person familiar with the project said work had effectively stopped, with efforts now focused on completing a few small buildings around the marina. Some of the earlier piling work has been covered with sand.

“I think as a thought experiment, great,” said one urban planning expert who works in Saudi Arabia. “But don’t build thought experiments.”