It seems like every week Neom, the Saudi Arabian-run company building The Line, the world’s first 15-minute city, is coming up with a new idea. Last week the fantasy was about Leyja, “sustainable” hotels in the desert. This week the fantasy is about Aquellum, a futuristic community for global nomads that will be completely encased in a mountain, invisible to anyone outside. But accessible from the Aqaba coast on the Red Sea though a “secret” location.
The coastal destination will be a hub for hotels, apartments, retail spaces, leisure and entertainment zones and innovative hubs, all in a vertical format, says Neom.
Aquellum follows the announcement of the project’s flagship regions, including Sindalah, its luxury island; The Line, a linear 15-minute city that represents the future of urban living; Trojena, its year-round mountain destination and the first outdoor ski experience in the GCC region; and Oxagon, a floating port city.
Some press bites about Aquellum: “A signature space, dubbed The Generator, houses unique research labs for disruptors, innovators, and creative thinkers, offering a platform where the future is reimagined.
“An omnidirectional internal transit system facilitates easy access to upper floors, transporting residents and visitors to their homes and hotels, ascending to rooftop gardens with breathtaking coastal views.”
Fun ideas, but nothing will be developed or populated by foreigners if Saudi Arabia can’t reign in Iran and the troubles with the Yemeni Houthi terrorists. The Houthis have been highjacking ships and firing at Saudi Arabia for years, and most recently taking the opportunity of the Hamas war with Israel to start shooting at Israeli-linked tankers. The Houthis held an oil tanker hostage for years and released it to international bodies just this summer to drain the oil cargo before it leaked into the sea. This was after several years of campaigns to get the Houthis to let the ship go.
