APAC Saudi forced to scale back the Line "gigaproject"

[Smacktard]

[...]plans for the mirror-clad desert metropolis called the Line have been scaled down and the project, which was envisaged to stretch 105 miles (170km) is expected to reach just a mile and a half by 2030.

[...] plans for the mirror-clad desert metropolis called the Line have been scaled down and the project, which was envisaged to stretch 105 miles (170km) is expected to reach just a mile and a half by 2030.

Source:

End of the Line? Saudi Arabia ‘forced to scale back’ plans for desert megacity

Crown prince’s pet project was sold as a 105-mile-long city of the future, but finances may have led to a rethink

www.theguardian.com

Saudi's 'Vision 2030' foresaw the completion of a number of "gigaprojects" such as the Line, the Red Sea project, Murabba, and King Salman park by 2030. You should look the projects up -- each one is uniquely and hilariously unrealistic.

Anyone with a fuckin iota of foresight could've seen these cancellations coming. I'm just surprised the country arrived at this conclusion this soon. I really thought they were going to drag it out to 2030 and just let the whole thing peter out like a silent fart.

What's hilarious is that Saudi is expected to host the Expo in 2030, and this year was supposed to coincide with the completion of a ton of gigaprojects which were supposed to launch the country into the modern era, bring in a ton of foreign investment, brainpower, and talent, and diversify the economy. Now all of those lofty dreams are starting to be reeled back in.

I suspect their may be some sort of societal/leadership upheaval in Saudi in the future. The population GENUINELY believed these projects were going to be completed. They saw taxes being raised, the cost of living increase dramatically, etc., all so that these projects would be funded, and the future of their country secured. With this future denied, I think some people might start to question the country's leadership, the country's future, etc.

tl;dr: Saudi's gigaprojects = fail; Saudi population does shocked Pikachu face; leadership change???

 

[Mark]

I don’t know much of anything about that region, but ever since I saw a time lapse of Dubai from the 80’s through to the completion of the Burj Khalifa, I was fascinated with the explosion of growth. I was always under the impression that it was oil that built the region up, but reading this makes me wonder if they’re just as dumb with money as we are over here.

 

[dimmerwit]

The most impressive line was the one they snorted to make them believe that this project was even possible in the first place.

I remember 20 years ago when Riyadh completed a couple of skyscrapers and that was considered a big deal.

I don’t know much of anything about that region, but ever since I saw a time lapse of Dubai from the 80’s through to the completion of the Burj Khalifa, I was fascinated with the explosion of growth. I was always under the impression that it was oil that built the region up, but reading this makes me wonder if they’re just as dumb with money as we are over here.

Well, it is oil. All these developments are attempts by the Middle East to diversify from oil/gas. Oil makes up nearly half of Saudi GDP and nearly two-thirds of budget revenues.

 

[Smacktard]

Dubai and Qatar are both interesting cases. I'm not quite sure why they were able to pull off their infrastructure projects so well, while Saudi's have been a flop. Maybe it's just because their projects were less amibitious (rather, more realistic). Maybe it's because they had competent people in charge.

Saudi started construction on a metro line in Riyadh in 2012, and it's STILL not complete. I don't know how they ever expected to finish these sci-fi-esque gigaprojects in an even shorter timeline than a simple everyday metro system.

 

[Smacktard]

picrel is my favorite social media post quite possibly ever

Sorry for quality but it was shared with me and I am NOT signing up for LinkedIn

 

[Dead2009]

Im lowkey kinda sad this wont get done the way they wanted it to cause I wanted to see how it would look upon being finished.

 

[Advocate for Ants! Mouth]

Everyone lets get together and build the GW Line. If you cross it you need to play wolf forever.

 

[shortkut]

Everyone lets get together and build the GW Line. If you cross it you need to play wolf forever.

 

[dimmerwit]

Dubai and Qatar are both interesting cases. I'm not quite sure why they were able to pull off their infrastructure projects so well, while Saudi's have been a flop. Maybe it's just because their projects were less amibitious (rather, more realistic). Maybe it's because they had competent people in charge.

Saudi started construction on a metro line in Riyadh in 2012, and it's STILL not complete. I don't know how they ever expected to finish these sci-fi-esque gigaprojects in an even shorter timeline than a simple everyday metro system.

Dubai has tons of projects left over from the 2008-09 crash. Granted that was because they ran out of money, but still. Even the Burj Khalifa was saved by Abu Dhabi, hence the name.

As for the metro, it is pretty uncommon to build a full system and open it all at once. It took us in London more time to build a single new line with less than a quarter of the length of track.