Saudi Arabia wants to give Dubai a run for its money. In fact, the country has plans to build a futuristic floating city called Oxagon, which will be part of a whole new region called Neom. It’s set to be 33 times bigger than New York, and the ambitious project will cost hundreds of billions of dollars.
The city of Oxagon, which is to be shaped like an octagon, will be built in the northwest of the country along the Red Sea coast, Business Insider reports. It will be built by Neom, the company after which the entire region will be named and whose spiritual father is Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman. He wants to significantly modernize the conservative kingdom as part of his Vision 2030 project.
“Oxagon will drive the economic growth and diversity of Neom and the kingdom as a whole, helping us move closer to our ambitions under Vision 2030,” commented the Crown Prince on the construction of the city. “It will help boost trade in the region and create a new focal point for global trade. I am happy to be a part of it,” bin Salman added.
The city is also expected to be strategically located due to its proximity to the Suez Canal and is said to be one of the most technologically advanced metropolises in the world.
The best place to live plans the prince
Metro reports that the investment in the region will cost a staggering $500 billion, or over 11 trillion crowns. According to the Crown Prince, Oxagon will attract the world’s best brains to the highest-paid jobs and is generally intended to be the best city to live in on the planet.
Oxagon, or rather the entire Neom region, will be built in a wasteland where virtually nothing but desert still exists. There will be other cities, research centers, educational zones, and tourist attractions.
According to the Wall Street Journal, there are plans for flying taxis, a Jurassic Park-style amusement park – but with robotic dinosaurs – and gastronomy. This is where the highest density of Michelin-starred restaurants is expected to be.
