Featured Image Credit: NEOM
Things appear to be in flux for Saudi Arabia's mega-project The Line, which has a reported overall budget of $1 trillion.
The incredibly ambitious and expensive project has been massively hyped, aiming to span a 170km slice of desert when it's completed - but construction might not be going so smoothly.
It's been reported that The Line is moving more slowly than was first planned and that by the time it hits the 2030 milestone, it'll only be home to 300,000 people instead of the planned 1.5 million.
Now French news agency AFP is reporting that Neom, the company behind The Line, sent representatives to China to court investors to join the project.
There haven't been any deals announced, nor has the trip been officially talked about, but one source apparently told that the delegation was able to make The Line "less mysterious" to prospective investors.
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The investors were apparently treated to an immersive experience taking them through the various regions and projects involved in The Line, which is also set to have various resorts and destinations nearby, all organized and built by Neom.
This would doubtless also have touched on the eco-conscious goals of the city, which aims to run entirely on sustainable energy when it's completely finished.
The team from Neom apparently didn't address any of the reports about the project's timeframe or scale, though, choosing instead to focus on the positives they've been extolling for years.
In particular, they were reportedly keen to stress that the overall population goal of nine million people would be eventually reached, although no timeline was mentioned.
Seeking investors seemingly isn't the only way that the team behind The Line are aiming to raise cash in the near future, though.
Bloomberg has also reported, since breaking the story about the project lagging behind pace, that bonds will start to be issued on the project in an attempt to gather more funds.
While Neom taking its investor pitch to China has attracted interest, it's worth clarifying that it has also visited a host of other countries to both showcase the idea and open the floor to investors. These have included South Korea, Japan, the US and UK, among others.
