According to Wall Street Journal reports, Neom, the planned ultra-rich city in Saudi Arabia, may not have a bright future as building delays and expenses rise.

Building "The Line," the showpiece of the project, would not be any easier. The extremely ambitious pair of buildings is larger than the Empire State Building and is projected to extend 105 kilometres across the desert. Its westernmost point, which ends on the Red Sea shore, is also the desert.

The startling scale emerges as a result of the astounding expenses. Neom's declared budget was $500 billion, or more than half of Saudi Arabia's federal budget, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Nevertheless, those presumptions might have been overly sanguine. According to those familiar with the plans and project workers, the first 1.5 miles of the Line alone will cost over $100 billion.

Furthermore, it is anticipated that the initiative will easily raise $2 trillion, which is greater than Brazil's GDP.

According to Massachusetts Institute of Technology architecture professor John E. Fernandez, "it's battling against the entire history of the way cities are founded and grow" (WSJ).