Why Saudi Arabia is Building a $1 Trillion City in the Desert

- I've been sleeping every night in the desert. Up here in the northwest corner of Saudi Arabia. (suspense music) It's quiet up here.

All you can hear is the wind and the sand that it whips off these endless dunes. (suspense music) But not far from where I sleep there's a new sound. (suspense music) For years I've been hearing about this trillion dollar futuristic city that the kingdom of Saudi Arabia is building atop this sand.

(suspense music) They're calling it Neom, and they're investing a huge amount of their vast oil wealth into making it come to life. (suspense music) I've been hearing about all the reasons it can't work, how this is all just a mirage of royal ambitions. And yet even from space, you can see that they're building it, they're building something.

(suspense music) Why would anyone try to build a futuristic city in a barren desert? That is a question I've had for a very long time, and one I intend to get to the bottom of. So I'm going into Neom to see what it looks like, to get a sense of its scale.

We're looking at this fleet of dump trucks. The amount of construction activity is insane, and it hasn't stopped as we've been driving along The Line. The magnitude I've never seen anything close.

They're building mountains out there. I'm joined by my friend Solom, who was born in a tent out here. He knows this desert better than anyone, every dune, every valley.

All the secret water spots hidden deep in red rock slot canyons. I asked Solom to bring me out into the desert, not only to get up close on the construction of Neom, but also to show me how people live out here, to introduce me to members of his tribe, how they've survived for centuries. Nomadic Bedouin, who represent the origin story of this desert kingdom.

(Bedouin people laughing) I wanted to put a human face to this collision of worlds, old and new. (lively music) I believe this little shape on the map represents the story of Saudi Arabia, where it came from, how it got here, and why it is attempting to build these cities in the sand. (lively music) (truck revving) I am officially in Neom, and let me tell you what I'm seeing so far.

(trucks revving) Trucks, trucks, trucks, dump trucks, cargo trucks, trucks carrying excavators, trucks, carrying more trucks. I've never seen so many trucks in my entire life. Oh, and these roads, a lot of them are brand new, a lot of them don't even show up on Google maps.

Like I'm looking at my phone and I'm just sort of floating in no man's land because these are all brand new roads. This is new, everything is popping up so quickly. Ha-ha, there's so many trucks.

(upbeat music) All of the sudden Solom turned off one of these pristinely new roads. Why do you deflate the tires? - For the dune.

- We're now gonna start driving just. . .

into the desert. (lively music) Wow, this car can go everywhere. (lively music) (car revving) Are we going up this dune?

- Yeah. - Oh wow. (car revving) Whoo.

Geez, this is insane. (ambient music) (car revving) It's gorgeous. Okay, now we're really in the desert.

(ambient music) (car revving) We found a little canyon to camp in. (fire crackling) And while I thought we'd be eating granola bars or canned soup, Solom had other plans. - [Solom] Have you tried camel meat before?

- [Johnny] Nuh-uh. - [Solom] You will try it tonight. Hashi is the young camel.

- [Johnny] Ah, rice with camel meat. The evening tradition here is to wind down with a cup of coffee. Saudi coffee is unroasted and green, infused with cardamom.

It's a different taste, I like it though. But it's still very caffeinated. Oh, and then after the coffee comes.

. . - Tea?

- Ah, thank you. Which again is very delicious, but how can they drink so much coffee before bed? Yeah, I can't drink too much because I- - Oh yeah.

- The caffeine, I won't be able to sleep. - Yeah. - In the morning I'll drink a lot of it.

- Okay. (ambient music) - Wow. Mm-hmm, wow, I love it.

So until what age did you live in the desert? - Maybe until seven. - Until seven?

- Yeah. - Did you like it? - Yeah, I like it.

- Yeah. - I like it. (ambient music) It's so rare to find families.

Real families living in desert. - Yeah. - The people that we are going to, they are real Bedouins.

(Bedouins people laughing) But when we moved to the city. . .

I study. (cars hooting) I go back- - Oh, you go back to the desert? - Yeah.

Even for me, I like like to have a job in the city, but I want the Bedoiun life. - Yeah. - I want them to stay.

- Soon we'll meet the Bedouin nomads who sleep under these stars every night. Look at this night full of incredible stars. (ambient music) Wow.

(ambient music) The Saudi desert is proving to be exceptionally peaceful, despite the army of trucks that, by the way, are still working here in the dead of night. I don't ever stop and haven't for years. (suspense music) It is so silent here.

My brain doesn't know what to do about it. It's so silent and. .

. (ambient music) But as the sun rises and Solom feeds me dates and green coffee, oh, and of course more tea, I'm thinking about my mission for today. My plan is to drive all throughout Neom, to all the big construction sites and show you what they're planning on building out here with their initial budget of $500 billion, which has since ballooned to an estimated $1.

5 trillion. And you're about to see why. So I made it to the coast, and I'm looking at the beautiful Red Sea, which is a very beautiful kind of blue in fact.

- [Announcer 1] This is Oxagon, the place where ideas can change the world. - [Johnny] Oxagon is planned to be their futuristic industrial city. Half of it built on the water.

It'll be a port where shipping can connect the world to a bunch of high tech manufacturing, research and logistics. And there's Sindalah, which is gonna be right here on the Red Sea. It's going to be a luxury resort island with plenty of parking for yachts.

We picked up a hitchhiker who has been working on Sindalah for years. How's it looking in Sindalah? - [Hitch Hiker] Finished like 99%.

- Really? - Yeah. (upbeat music) And then there's Magna, which is actually the name of one of these coastal villages we've just been driving next to that is no longer a village.

They've forcibly relocated thousands of people for this project. (classical music) Atop the ruins of these villages, the kingdom is building 12 luxury coastal resorts and communities. (classical music) Hey, just one quick clarification here, all of those visuals are 3D renders.

They are visualizations done by Neom to see what they want this to look like. This stuff doesn't exist yet, and I think that maybe is obvious, but it looks so real that I just want to just make crystal clear. I'm showing a lot of this stuff from the hype-y promo visuals that have come out from Neom.

So that's one thing. Also, check out some of this footage I got while I was on a dune. It's floating around on this dune.

This is me shooting from the drone, but suddenly on the other side of this massive dune, there are these green circles. When I was planning my trip to Saudi Arabia, I got really interested in these things, but that has nothing to do with Neom, so I hopped on the phone with my new colleague, Christophe, and asked him to go down the deep dive rabbit hole of why there's a bunch of green circles in the Saudi desert. And he did so, and he made an entire video about what he learned.

That video is live right now on our new channel Tunnel Vision, I think you're gonna like it. And before we get back to the story of Neom, and I show you the Bedouin and show you the rest of this video, which is a total monster of an edit, I need to tell you about today's sponsors. Sponsors are how I'm able to do this, how we're able to spend months and months and months constructing such a massive video.

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So thank you Rocket Money for sponsoring today's video. There's a lot more to this video and this is where it starts to get pretty juicy. So let's dive back into the story of Neom and the Bedouin of Saudi Arabia.

(classical music) Built on some pretty wild designs, ideas and concepts, including- - [Announcer 2] A vast subterranean digital community inside a mountain, Magna, the coast of Mia. (classical music) - [Johnny] Yeah, right there is perfect. (classical music) - And then there's Trojena up here in the mountains.

Yes, there are big mountains here. It's going to be a luxury tourist destination for adventure and wellness retreats, complete with an artificial lake and outdoor activities like mountain biking and skiing. Yes, I just said skiing.

Up here in the mountains it gets kind of cold in the winter and snow falls. Definitely not enough for skiing, but enough for them to make fake snow and make ski slopes. They're building a manmade lake, in fact, they're doing it right now, I'm looking up at the mountain and seeing the plumes of smoke from the dynamite that they're using to do whatever they need to do to build an artificial lake.

Oh, and by the way, that's the mountain where Moses talked to God and got the 10 Commandments like a few thousand years ago. - There is no freedom without the law. (classical music) Who is on the Lord's side?

- [Announcer 1] Welcome to Trojena, the mountains of Neom. (Johnny laughing) - This is all so strange. (classical music) And then of course, the one you've maybe heard about.

(ambient music) And yes, it's being built. (ambient music) I've been driving along it all morning and I can't really fathom what I'm seeing. I continue to have my mind blown at a scale of this.

(ambient music) They say The Line is gonna be a futuristic citym that stretches 170 kilometers and run on renewable energy and artificial intelligence. They want 10 million people to come live here, like a whole New York city of people inside of this line in the desert. (ambient music) Just the digging alone, the amount of earth that they're moving is jaw dropping.

(ambient music) The magnitude is like they're building mountains out there and moving so much earth. (ambient music) Now I thought I had seen a lot of trucks before, but as I drove along The Line, I started to get slightly dizzy. Having a hard time processing the scale of all of this, all of these machines working nonstop, every hour of every day for years.

Moving sand, making mountains and carving a straight line into the desert. (ambient music) (wind whooshing) All of this seems impossible. So much of the reporting on Neom has been focused on how implausible, expensive and delusional this project is.

And that's all well and good if that's what you wanna focus on, but to me that's not that interesting. What I'm most interested in understanding is why. (ambient music) We found a little cave last night and camped here.

Solom invited some of his friends out. Hey guys. - Hi.

- How's it going? - Good. - This is so cool, right?

- Yeah, it is. - [Johnny] We all sat around the fire, me listening while they laughed and joked in Arabic. (Solom and friends speaking Arabic) And then began cooking yet another delicious meal.

This time, goat cooked in goat milk with flatbread. Wow, this is awesome. - Yeah.

(Solom speaking Arabic) (ambient music) - Wow, so good. (ambient music) I am admittedly a little groggy after sleeping a few nights on the desert floor. We're just sledding down a massive dune in a car and it's as smooth as butter.

(ambient music) Where they're making Trojena it's gonna be kind of crazy. To have skiing in Saudi Arabia, right? (ambient music) - That's a big change here.

- Yeah. - It was like a hiking trail. - Yeah.

Really? - [Solom] But with this, no, this is new. (ambient music) - Today Solom is introducing me to members of his tribe.

Is this them? Hello. It'll be the polar opposite of yesterday's tour through Neom's construction.

He put on his traditional Saudi clothing so as not to surprise the members of his tribe that he has indeed become a modern city man. (ambient music) We arrived to a remote patch of desert where a few tents are set up. (ambient music) The elder of this family warmly invites me in.

Johnny, hi. To sit for coffee. (Bedouin people speaking Arabic) And then of course more tea.

Wow. And at this point, I'm just embracing the caffeine. They tell me that the only westerners they've ever seen out here are the ones looking for oil.

And that it's very strange to see me showing up to learn about their culture and especially with a camera. So how long have you lived here? - [Solom] This is two months here?

- Months? - Yeah. - Wow.

(sheep bleating) I got to meet their animals, extended members of this nomadic family. (camel grunting) So this family's been here on this site, and they'll move again when the season tells them to. They basically are here grazing their camels and their goats.

And God, they've got a beautiful view. Oh my God, those mountains. (ambient music) So wait, he's the shepherd?

You're the shepherd? - Yeah. - Wow.

That's cool. Do you ever get lost in the desert? (Solom speaking Arabic) - No.

- No, he's a pro. He's a pro on that donkey. These people's lives depend on moving these animals through the desert in search for scarce food.

(ambient music) A theme I hear from a lot of people who live out here is the. . .

just sense of peace and simplicity that they get, that they realize that the city could never bring. What do you like about out here that makes you stay? (elder speaking Arabic) So when you go to the city.

. . City, no.

This is a better life. Man, this sunset is gorgeous. (indistinct chattering) Okay.

Yeah, yeah, that's good. (Bedouin prayer music) (ambient music) As the group faces east to perform their fourth of five prayers they do each day, I'm looking west. Just over those mountains, the kingdom of Saudi Arabia is digging a giant line in the sand.

(ambient music) Working day and night to reshape this desert, building their high tech eco city. (ambient music) For most of its history, this was the way of life out here on this peninsula. And it may have remained such to this day, but eventually the Bedouin on this peninsula united, an unbeknownst to anyone, was sitting atop a sea of black gold.

- [Announcer 3] Oil in commercial quantities, averaging about 200,000 barrels a day. To handle this huge volume, the expanding program requires an increase of permanent personnel to a total of more than 15,000 Arabs. (ambient music) - [Johnny] Oil changed everything.

The kingdom rapidly modernized. - [Announcer 3] The king sees the oil development as the greatest single means to modernize his country and improve the living standards of his people. - [Johnny] All while still maintaining a deep connection with Islamic law, and the rules and norms of Bedouin life.

And despite this rapid modernization, hundreds of thousands of people still maintain the nomadic lifestyle. It is a link to their past. (ambient music) Nice.

(ambient music) (Bedouin people speaking Arabic) - [Solom] They're talking about something that they see it these days. The people travel by like bike- - Cycling, yeah. The conversation goes into the night and I knew I had to ask them about Neom.

Can you ask them what their thoughts are on all the building that's happening? I have to be sensitive here 'cause I'm reminded where I am. Saudi Arabia isn't a place where citizens, nomads or not, can speak critically about their kingdom.

I got nervous looks and vague answers. But one thing is for certain that the Saudi government has been pain in compensating anyone who has been affected by these projects. Out of respect, I decide not to push it, it's not worth it.

We're sitting around a huge platter of camel meat and fragrant rice. So where I'm from, there's no camels. - Ah.

- No camels, I've never seen a camel until yesterday. The elder generously showing his hospitality by finding the juiciest chunks of camel meat and fat and passing them to me. Thank you.

(elder speaking Arabic) Yeah. And I'm realizing that this moment is a glimpse into one of the oldest surviving cultures on earth. (elder speaking Arabic) (ambient music) Thank you.

(Bedouin people speaking Arabic) The family invites us to sleep near their tent. Another night, another sky full of stars. (ambient music) I'm really feeling it, just how fast the change has come to this desert, where nomads whose movement and lifestyle hark back to the earliest civilizations and who are now living a stones throw away from the construction of a futuristic city that is attempting to define the next chapter of human civilization.

(ambient music) It feels like too much to process. (ambient music) I couldn't help but feel worried for this link to the past. (Bedouin people speaking Arabic) (Johnny and Bedouin people laughing) (ambient music) So oil transformed this desert, but soon a problem began to arise.

(upbeat music) Slowly the world has started coming to terms with the reality that, burning oil to run our world is turning the planet into a place that's not conducive for human life. (upbeat music) The International Energy Agency predicts that the world will hit peak oil demand in 2030, at which time demand will start to fall. (upbeat music) Other predictions say it'll take longer, but everyone agrees that the future of this world is not oil.

This is bad news for Saudi Arabia, a country that has nothing but oil. - [Announcer 1] Aramco, the state owned oil company, second quarter profit said tumbling by more than a third from last year's record highs. - Oil transformed this desert kingdom into a modern, powerful country.

And in order for them to retain that status, they're going to need to use the money from that oil to transform themselves again. Enter, Neom. (lively music) Saudi Arabia wants to replace its oil economy with new economies, new industries, some of which they want to invent.

(lively music) This kingdom that has been historically closed is now open, welcoming tourists for the first time. - [Announcer 2] Welcome to Arabia, get your visa now. - Let's go to Sindalah.

I here. - [Johnny] Hoping to attract the world, this is something neighboring Dubai has done successfully. - [Announcer 1] The spirit of Dubai.

- But Saudi Arabia plans to do it on a whole new level. (lively music) I'll tell you one thing, the water here is beautiful. On that note, I was surprised at how welcome I felt here.

Every person I met greeted me with kindness and eagerness to show me their culture. (ambient music) But it's not just about tourism, Neom is manufacturing, sustainability, technology, sports, education, media, and even an attempt to reinvent cities themselves. (ambient music) They also want to use all this oil money to stay on top of global energy.

All of this hot sun is great for solar energy. (ambient music) And while driving around, I saw endless fields of wind turbines. (ambient music) And they can use this to make new forms of hydrogen energy that they can ship around the world.

(ambient music) And the reason why all these promo videos look like a Hollywood movie is because they can't do this without investors from the outside world. They need people to come live here. - [Wife] So my husband got offered a job for Neom in Saudi Arabia, and we decided to make the move.

- [Johnny] They need them to play here, raise children here, somehow have a life here, and most crucially to invest in these projects. - And what are we calling it? - The Line.

- The Line. - The line. - [Johnny] So not unlike a startup, Neom is pitching the world on this impossible sounding vision with the hopes that people will buy it, invest in it, and make some version of it a reality.

(ambient music) So do you feel excited about it Neom? Like- - Yes. - Yeah.

Why? - I wouldn't do this business without Neom. - Oh wow.

- Before Neom. - Wow. - Everyone wanna like check on internet what is Neom.

Then they need a tour guide. To have more than 30 tour guides working with me. - Wow.

- So it's a big business now and it's all because of Neom. (ambient music) - [Johnny] So while Solom is seeing the benefits of this project, the effects for others in this region are less certain. We're driving by some of the towns that have been demolished.

The people forced to move to make way for the construction of Neom. They were given money to rebuild their lives somewhere else. But some refused to leave, signing a petition to protest this forced eviction.

One even posted to social media voicing his outrage, a risky move in a place where freedom of speech isn't really a thing. Soon he was locked in a shootout with security forces that left him dead. - [Reporter] This is when Saudi officials reportedly handed over the body of Abdul Rahim al-Huwaiti to his tribe.

His family denies the official narrative that Rahim was a terrorist. - [Johnny] At least 47 other villagers were detained on terror related charges, and five of them are now on death row. (ambient music) The scale and riskiness of these projects speaks to the scale of Saudi Arabia's challenge.

They need something to keep them afloat after oil goes away, so they're betting the family farm on a few massive projects. Many will likely fail, but even if a few of these work out as planned, it could be their next oil. (ambient music) Lifting this kingdom into the future, that's the calculus here.

(ambient music) But what's clear is that this kingdom isn't stopping anytime soon.