---
title: "Saudi Arabia Begins Construction of 100 Mile Skyscraper"
description: "New drone footage shows that Saudi Arabia has begun excavating for its giant, 100-mile-long development — a highly controversial megacity project."
date: "2022-10-21"
modified: "2022-10-21"
authors:
  - name: "Noor Al-Sibai"
    job_title: "Senior Staff Writer"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai.md"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/saudi-arabia-100-mile-skyscraper"
categories:
  - "Future Society"
tags:
  - "neom"
  - "Saudi Arabia"
  - "skyscrapers"
  - "the digest"
---

# Saudi Arabia Begins Construction of 100 Mile Skyscraper

![New drone footage shows that Saudi Arabia has begun excavating for its giant skyscraper megacity — just after sentencing a group of people to execution.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/saudi-arabia-100-mile-skyscraper.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Dezeen\</em\>*

## Line Up

New drone footage shows that Saudi Arabia has begun excavating for its giant, 100-mile-long skyscraper development **—** an outlandish and highly controversial megacity in the middle of the desert.

As [architecture magazine ](<https://www.dezeen.com/2022/10/19/line-megacity-under-construction-saudi-arabia-drone/>)[*Dezeen* ](<https://www.dezeen.com/2022/10/19/line-megacity-under-construction-saudi-arabia-drone/>)[reports](<https://www.dezeen.com/2022/10/19/line-megacity-under-construction-saudi-arabia-drone/>), engineers broke ground on the development dubbed NEOM, which is slated to be built in a 105-mile-straight line — hence its moniker, "The Line" — and will, per [the kingdom's statements at the time it was announced](<https://futurism.com/saudi-arabia-line-city.md>), be car-less and have zero emissions.

[Drone footage](<https://youtu.be/HfiWYKTgRxI>) shared by *Dezeen* shows a huge construction site, with dozens of excavators digging a massive trench of epic proportions.

But there are far darker things going on behind the scenes, indicating that the project is already off to a rough start.

## Executive Function

For instance, members of the Huwaitat tribe who refused to leave their homes to make way for the development have reportedly been sentenced to death by the state, human rights NGO [Alqst](<https://www.alqst.org/en/post/death-sentences-for-men-who-refused-to-make-way-for-neom>) revealed earlier this month.

According to the report, the Saudi government confirmed earlier in October that three members of the tribe were sentenced to be executed in the country's national terrorism court for refusing to leave their homes when developers came to seize their land for the megacity.

## Dystopia Now

Though this sort of thing is far from new for Saudi Arabia, the fact that the country is committing human rights abuses on this level while also planning what *Vice* calls a "[utopian fantasy](<https://www.vice.com/en/article/wxn7gb/new-drone-footage-shows-saudi-arabias-desert-megacity-the-line-under-construction>)" is particularly dissonant.

Beyond the glaring [human rights issues](<https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/28/magazine/saudi-arabia-neom-the-line.html>) at play, the project itself — which sounds a lot like a stationary version of the train from "Snowpiercer" — is, as *Vice* and [many others](<https://english.alaraby.co.uk/analysis/saudi-arabias-line-neom-project-too-ambitious>) have noted, pretty outlandish.

**That's because, aside from being overly ambitious, the concept seems extremely strange logistically speaking, with a planned height taller than the Empire State Building, but a width of less than 700 feet.**

In Saudi Arabia and in the rest of the world, progress at all costs is king — and those who are in the way of it are, it seems, expendable.

**More speculative reality:** [*Oakland Police Want to Arm Robots With Shotguns, Because We Live in a Dystopian Nightmare*](<https://futurism.com/oakland-police-robots-shotgun.md>)

## Author
At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/noorfromfuturism.bsky.social>)