June 12, 2025, 9:08 am | Read time: 6 minutes
The project seems overly ambitious: a gigantic, futuristic zone featuring a linear skyscraper city, man-made islands, a ski resort, and beach destinations. Neom, as the Saudi Arabian ruling family’s initiative is called, aims to secure the future of the Gulf monarchy. Doubts about the megaproject frequently arise, with delays and cost overruns becoming public. Currently, Neom is making headlines with a revived megaproject: the construction of a bridge over the Red Sea that would connect Saudi Arabia and Egypt may be imminent.
Moses once parted the Red Sea; now Saudi Arabia and Egypt want to either drive over or under it. The unofficially named “Moses Bridge” is a massive new prestige construction project in the future region of Neom, currently under development in northwest Saudi Arabia. The multibillion-dollar project by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is set to cover an area of 26,500 square kilometers. This would make Neom 32 times larger than New York and even larger than Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Slovenia.
The planned region extends in northwest Saudi Arabia up to Jordan and Egypt. And that’s precisely where a problem seems to have arisen: Saudi Arabia and Egypt are separated by the Red Sea, specifically at the Gulf of Aqaba. This means future Neom visitors from Africa would have to fly, take a boat, or endure a long land journey by car through Israel and Jordan. Given the current situation, that might not be the best idea. Dissatisfied with the existing options, the countries have dusted off plans that first emerged around 35 years ago: a bridge.
“Moses Bridge” to Connect Egypt and Saudi Arabia
As early as 1988, there were considerations to cross the Red Sea with a bridge. However, these were abandoned due to political tensions. The idea resurfaced in 2016. Now, several media outlets, including “Reuters,” report that Egyptian Transport Minister Kamel al-Wazir has announced that the plans are ready in the drawer and can be implemented at any time. However, it remains undecided whether the massive infrastructure project will ultimately be a bridge or a tunnel. If the 2016 plans have not been significantly altered, according to the Austrian news portal “Futurezone,” the location is at least already determined: Over the Strait of Tiran, one of the narrowest points of the Red Sea, the Egyptian resort town of Sharm El-Sheikh is to be directly connected with Ras Hamid. The latter is the western gateway to Neom’s linear skyscraper city “The Line.”
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According to the Swiss travel portal “Travelnews,” the new sea-spanning structure is expected to be between 14 and 24 kilometers long. The cost: around four billion U.S. dollars. Saudi Arabia is expected to cover the entire cost. The travel portal explains that the Saudi kingdom has the greatest interest in building the bridge or tunnel, as it would greatly facilitate access to its futuristic megaproject for both visitors from Africa and pilgrims on their way to Mecca.
“Business Insider Africa” reports that this “alternative pilgrimage route to Mecca” could potentially benefit more than a million travelers. Toll fees could recoup the construction costs within ten years, according to forecasts. It is still undecided whether there will be a rail link over the bridge or through the tunnel.
Neom in Financial Crisis
Recently, there has been less spectacular news about the current state of Neom, with reports everywhere that the futuristic mega-project is in a deep crisis. For example, “Yahoo News” reported in March 2025, citing the “Wall Street Journal,” that instead of the originally estimated $500 billion that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had planned for Neom, the estimated investment costs have risen to $8.8 trillion. According to the reports, this corresponds to 25 times the kingdom’s annual budget.
The astronomical rise in costs was apparently hidden from the crown prince. According to “Yahoo,” the “Wall Street Journal” had access to an audit report that clearly revealed that members of the management had attempted to “falsify numbers to (…) cover up the skyrocketing costs of the project.” Among other things, a night in a boutique hiking hotel was suddenly supposed to cost $1,866 instead of the previously set $489; a night at an “innovative glamping” site increased from $216 to $794.
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The Line: Initially Just Under Three Kilometers Long Instead of 170
A particular cost point is the linear skyscraper city project “The Line.” Spanning 170 kilometers long, 200 meters wide, and nearly 500 meters high, the gigantic building is designed to stretch car-free and emission-free across desert and mountains. With its mirrored glass facade, the mega-skyscraper is intended to blend with its surroundings and is therefore often called the “Mirror Line.” A journey from one end to the other is expected to take just 20 minutes; up to nine million people are expected to live in the megacity once completed. According to the original plans, 1.5 million people were already supposed to be living here by 2030.
As an insider told the U.S. business magazine “Bloomberg” last year, this milestone apparently cannot be reached: According to the anonymous source, “The Line” will only be able to accommodate 300,000 people by 2030; moreover, by then, only 2.4 of the total planned 170 kilometers of length will have been realized.
According to the anonymous source, the state budget for Neom for the year 2024 has not yet been released, as the project’s costs have raised significant concern at the highest levels of the Saudi government. As “Bloomberg” further reports, the Saudi finance minister had already issued a statement in September 2023, announcing the delay of some projects in favor of the country’s economy.
The “Wall Street Journal” reported in March 2025 that the costs for “The Line” have significantly increased. The plan for the 170-kilometer skyscraper city is therefore becoming increasingly unlikely, it says. The current goal for “The Line” is now to “open the first half of the first part of the project by 2034.”
What the gigantic construction project currently looks like can apparently be seen from the COO of “The Line,” Giles Pendleton. He regularly posts pictures on LinkedIn, most recently in May 2025.
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