RIYADH: Construction on NEOM"s largest development ‘The Line’ is expected to start by the end of this year, the governor of the Saudi wealth fund said. The Line — a 170-kilometer, zero-carbon, urban-development project featuring several hyper-connected communities — sparked interest worldwide when it was unveiled earlier this year by the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman. It is also proving hugely popular among Saudis, who see it as their nation’s most ambitious project to date. "We"re hoping we will finalize all the plans before the end of the year and we will start construction before the end of this year," Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan said in a virtual event hosted by the Future Investment Initiative Institute (FII) on Tuesday. NEOM"s officials announced earlier that there are many areas under development in addition to The Line, such as an industrial city and many resort areas. Al-Rumayyan said that some of these areas have advanced in construction ahead of The Line. "Some parts of the NEOM company have already started with construction. I will give an example. Sandala island which is going to have a lot of resorts and golf courses and other stuff," he added. NEOM is seeking contractors and investors for the giga project, which is located in northwest of Saudi Arabia, on the Red Sea coast. About 150 design and construction companies visited NEOM in the last four days, as the Saudi giga-project aims to explore partnership opportunities. Representatives of global companies visited a 12-square-kilometer logistics park, featuring construction villages with labor communities of up to 30,000 workers, as well as offices, warehouses, and construction service establishments, NEOM said in a statement. NEOM will be built around sustainability and powered by renewable energy. "It’s going to be zero carbon emission, it will have no cars actually. It will be about 170 kilometers, basically a line, and it’s going to be 30 percent more efficient, and when I say efficient I’m talking about the cost efficiency," Al-Rumayyan added.