Is it a mirage or a golf club? A new utopian desert rendering just dropped

Remember Neom, the $1T utopia being built on 10.2k square miles of Saudi Arabian desert?

If not, here’s a refresher: It’s a special zone that will operate independently of Saudi Arabia’s government, with its own judicial system and taxes, that’s owned by the country’s public investment fund.

And it’s busy cooking up out-of-this-world projects, like Gidori, Neom’s newly announced “flagship golf community.”

Like Neom’s previous renderings, Gidori looks like it was torn from the set of Glass Onion or a billionaire’s wildest daydream.

The beachfront community will hold a hotel, apartments and villas, an 18-hole golf course, and entertainment options like restaurants, spas, and hiking trails.

It will be part of the Gulf of Aqaba region, which hosts nine other development projects and joins Neom’s four yet-to-be-realized regions:

• Trojena, the $500B ski resort set to host the 2029 Asian Winter Games.
• Oxagon, the octagonal, floating structure that will be a “center for advanced and clean industries.”
• Sindalah, an island in the Red Sea that will hold hotels and yacht marinas. It will be the first Neom project to open, allegedly, in 2024.

And, of course, there’s the buzziest region of them all: The Line. Neom says the ~105-mile-long smart city will one day house 9m people and be car-free.

Where there’s a $1T fever dream…

… there’s drama. A recent progress video for The Line states that “millions of cubic meters of earth and water are being moved per week.”

We’re no experts, but that doesn’t sound awesome for the environment. Others seem to agree — experts say The Line could even pose a risk to migratory bird species.

And birds might not be the only ones in trouble: Saudi Arabia’s cash levels have fallen by about three quarters to ~$15B, the lowest level since 2020, as spending on giga-projects continues to escalate.

One expert predicts that completing the projects may require the government to pour an additional $270B into the country’s wealth fund by 2030. Oof.

If these renderings ever materialize, would you check into a hotel room at Neom? Scroll to the bottom and let us know.