The Crown Prince launches “Trojena“, the latest ambitious project linked to the megalopolis of Neom which leaves architects perplexed.
The crown prince of the kingdom wants a new city in the desert. A futuristic, high-tech, and innovative place, where everything would be bought and technology would be used as ecology, with a factory island and ski resort.
It’s a pharaonic project with a staggering cost. A 500 billion dollar utopia, dreamed up by the ruling prince of Saudi Arabia who wants to diversify the kingdom’s income, which to date has been largely derived from the immense oil windfall (about 300 billion dollars a year).
It wasn’t enough for them to build a 170 km long straight line city, a floating hexagonal city, and a non-profit city in the name of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salmane (MBS), the Saudis are back with a revolutionary new idea.
A huge city of the future called Neom, a contraction of the Greek neo (new) and the Arabic mostaqbal (future), is planned for the extreme north-west of this immense country, on the borders with Egypt and Jordan, in a sparsely populated region bordered by the waters of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba.
A 170 km long conurbation, built on 26,000 km² (the size of Brittany) along a sort of “lifeline”, including industry, agriculture, housing, services, and entertainment, would bring together 1 million inhabitants. Its construction would be financed by a public investment company under the control of Crown Prince Mohammed Ben Salmane.
Trojena, Oxagon, The Line: three sectors of the project, each presented as “ecological”, “connected”, “and experimental”, based on automation and artificial intelligence, with robot valets and flying cabs. These promises are intended to attract foreign investors, the stated objective of a Saudi royalty aware that it must diversify its income and find work for its rich and idle youth.
A city-state listed on the stock exchange
It will be a kind of city-state organized as a private company in which it will be possible to buy shares on the stock market and which will have its board of directors.
The work, which remains mysterious, is expected to begin in 2025, with full use of the various sites in 2030. A global biotechnology, media, and entertainment center, self-sufficient in energy and agriculture, which would bring in nearly $50 billion in annual revenues for the Saudi crown.
Oxagon would be an octagonal island factory, 7 km in diameter, half of which would float on the Red Sea and would be powered by renewable energy. A fully automated industrial and port complex with an integrated logistics platform.
The Line will consist of a 170 km long city, without cars or carbon, with underground communication and transportation. The city will be made up of blocks, each of which will offer all the services and shops, accessible in less than 5 minutes on foot. A 31 km-long tunnel is under construction.
Trojena
This is TROJENA – a new world of possibilities, with one-of-a-kind experiences, stunning natural beauty, architectural excellence and premium lakeside living – in The Mountains of NEOM.#TROJENA #NEOM pic.twitter.com/hgf1iijZmA
— NEOM (@NEOM) March 3, 2022
Finally the most incredible, Trojena snow. A real estate complex in altitude (1500-2500 m), intended to “redefine mountain tourism on a global scale” according to the crown prince. A complex combining an artificial lake, luxury hotels, shopping malls, an observatory, a connected vertical village, and ski slopes overlooking the Red Sea … In a region that has no river and where snowfall seems to be a meteorological accident. All this again and again, “based on the principles of eco-tourism”.
Trojena ski resort, a mountain tourist destination that will be built in Neom, is a futuristic megalopolis that boasts an area 33 times that of New York.
Trojena neom will redefine mountain tourism for the world. Created on the principles of ecotourism, this destination will emphasize the desire to preserve nature and improve the quality of life of the community.
It will enrich the region’s tourism offering and will be a unique example of how Saudi Arabia is developing destinations based on its geographic and environmental diversity.
This project will provide year-round outdoor skiing and will include, among other things, a wellness center and an interactive nature reserve. It is scheduled for completion in 2026.
Another feature of the project is The Vault, a vertical village that will “connect the physical and digital worlds.”
According to Neom’s website, this artificial village will include “personalized experiences where reality and imagination combine,” but little reveals what that entails.
Goal: 700,000 visitors by 2030
Trojena’s executive director, Philip Gullett of Britain, explains, “In some ways, the concept is similar to The Line in that it concentrates this vertical village or city in one place, minimizing land use, and maximizing foot travel, rather than spreading all of these elements over a large area.”
This tourist destination will also include a man-made lake just under two miles long, filled with fresh water. Philip Gullett assures that the design challenge of getting water to this lake is “doable” but goes “beyond the usual limits.”
According to a press release, the city intends to attract 700,000 visitors and 7,000 permanent residents by 2030. It also claims that the project will create 10,000 jobs and generate three billion riyals ($800 billion) for the Saudi economy.
The city is part of the crown prince’s flagship Vision 2030 project, which seeks to modernize the kingdom and diversify its economy away from its dependence on oil.
Also Read : Neom: Saudi Arabia’s $500B City of the Future – The Line, Trojena, Oxagon and more
