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Saudi Arabia’s ‘100-Mile Skyscraper’: What’s Being Built—and What the Death Toll Claim Really Says

The Line’s planned 170-kilometer scale is not a measure of current construction. Available sources do not verify a project-specific death toll; the disputed 21,000 figure concerns a broader Saudi Vision 2030 context.

By Bettesworth Construction Team 3 min read
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Saudi Arabia’s The Line is planned as a 170-kilometer (about 106-mile) linear city, but that is a design ambition—not proof that a 100-mile structure is currently under construction. The available sources also do not establish a verified death toll for workers on The Line. The often-cited figure of about 21,000 is a disputed allegation about migrant deaths across the wider Vision 2030 context, not a confirmed count for this project.

Is Saudi Arabia really building a 100-mile skyscraper?

Not in the sense the headline suggests. The Line is a proposed linear urban development within NEOM, not a conventional single skyscraper. NEOM’s official concept describes a development 170 kilometers long—about 106 miles—500 meters high and 200 meters wide. The company says the completed plan is intended to accommodate nine million people. Those are NEOM’s stated design ambitions, not independently verified construction or delivery figures.

Giles Pendleton, identified by NEOM as The Line’s chief operating officer, described the vision this way: “Imagine then a whole city within a 500-meter tall and 200 meter-wide building, stretching 170 kilometers across the coast, desert and mountains of Northeast Saudi Arabia.” That is an executive’s description of the proposal, not an independent assessment of what has been built. NEOM’s official description of The Line provides the project’s planned dimensions.

What construction has been confirmed?

NEOM’s public project page says The Line “is advancing through a phased, demand-led approach.” That wording describes the organization’s approach; it does not state how many kilometers are complete or currently being built. The official project information does not provide a verified current construction-length measurement.

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Evidence What it establishes What it does not establish
NEOM’s project page describes a 170-kilometer plan and a phased, demand-led approach. The intended scale and NEOM’s stated approach. That 170 kilometers are under construction or complete. NEOM project page
In October 2024, Saudi Press Agency reported an agreement for a SAR 700 million ready-mix concrete facility intended to serve The Line. Project-related infrastructure activity reported at that time. A measurement of completed construction or the length of The Line built. Saudi Press Agency, October 8, 2024
In November 2024, Saudi Press Agency reported that NEOM appointed partners for core city planning, design and engineering for the first phase. Planning, design and engineering appointments reported for that phase at that time. That the full proposed development was being built or how much had been completed. Saudi Press Agency, November 11, 2024

These announcements show activity tied to the project, but they are not evidence that a 100-mile structure is being built all at once. The dated reports do not settle the project’s current physical progress.

How many workers died building The Line?

The sources available do not establish a verified worker death toll specific to The Line. In particular, they do not support saying that 21,000 workers died building it. A figure covering a country, several years or multiple development projects cannot be assigned to one project without evidence that matches that scope.

Where did the 21,000 deaths figure come from?

In 2024, The B1M summarized an allegation in an ITV documentary that about 21,000 migrant workers from India, Bangladesh and Nepal had died in Saudi Arabia since 2017 in the broader Vision 2030 context, which includes NEOM and The Line. The B1M reported that Saudi Arabia’s National Council for Occupational Safety and Health disputed the allegation and cited a national work-related fatality rate.

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The figure is not presented in the available reporting as a verified count of deaths on The Line or as a construction-site tally established through transparent methodology. Its scope is the broader Saudi Vision 2030 context, and it remains disputed. The B1M’s account of the documentary allegation and response explains that distinction.

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What is known about migrant-worker safety in Saudi Arabia?

Separate reporting raises serious concerns about worker deaths and how they are recorded and investigated in Saudi Arabia. The Associated Press, reporting on findings and claims by Human Rights Watch and FairSquare in May 2025, described migrant-worker deaths at Saudi job sites and concerns about shortcomings in death recording and investigation. The Guardian’s May 2025 report described FairSquare’s concern that deaths classified as “natural” may lack a meaningful explanation of the underlying cause.

This reporting concerns the wider Saudi labor context and work sites, not a measured death toll for The Line. It supports scrutiny of worker safety, death classification and investigation; it does not identify a project-specific number. See the Associated Press report of May 14, 2025 and The Guardian report of May 14, 2025.

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