Saudi Arabia plans to build a skyscraper stretching 120 kilometers in the form of two parallel structures, which will be the largest in the world, cut through mountains and desert and include apartment complexes, a football stadium and other huge facilities, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The newspaper said that the project, which was called “The Mirror Line”, comes as part of the “NEOM” project announced by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman several years ago.
The newspaper added that when bin Salman ordered the authorities to develop the arid lands in the northwest of the kingdom, he demanded to build something as unique as the pyramids in Egypt.
In response, planners came up with the world’s largest structure in the form of two buildings that are about 480 meters high and extend parallel for 120 kilometers across coastal, mountainous and desert terrain, and connected by corridors, according to hundreds of pages of classified planning documents obtained by the newspaper and detailing the idea for the first time.
The newspaper quoted people familiar with the plan, and details contained in the documents, that the cost of the project will reach one trillion dollars and a capacity of about five million people.
Documents dating back to last fall show that the project also includes the construction of a high-speed train that will pass under the mirrored buildings.
The project includes the construction of vertical farms to provide food for the residents of the complex on their own, as well as the construction of a sports stadium that reaches a height of 1,000 feet above the surface of the ground, as well as a marina for yachts.
The newspaper says that if Saudi Arabia succeeds in building this project, the construction will be unique in the world.
However, the newspaper talks about a set of challenges facing it, including that people may avoid living in a vertical environment due to fears of the spread of epidemics that were strengthened after the emergence of the Corona virus.
There are also concerns about the sheer size of the structure, which may alter the dynamics of groundwater flow in desert valleys and restrict the movement of birds and other animals.
The Mirror Line was designed by US-based Morphosis Architects, which was founded by Pritzker Prize winner Tom Mayne, along with at least nine other design and engineering consultants.
The designers proposed to build the project in stages by constructing structures with a length of 800 meters that are connected along a line with varying heights of about 480 meters, which means that it will be higher than the Empire State Building in New York.
If finally completed, the “mirror line” will extend from the Gulf of Aqaba, bisecting a mountain range that runs along the western coast of the Kingdom.