`Oxagon` is an ambitious Saudi project for the largest floating city in the world, perched on the Red Sea

Weather of Arabia - As part of Vision 2030, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia announced its latest ambitious projects, an eight-sided city "Oxagon" floating on the Red Sea, and it will be the largest floating structure in the world and home to the world's first "fully automated" port and an integrated logistics center, where The Red Sea is one of the busiest trade routes, and 12% of all world trade passes through it each year.

Oxagon CEO Vishal Wancho said that the port will be the nucleus of the industrial city for "Oxagon", noting that an existing port near the city of Duba on the Red Sea will be transformed to accommodate container capacity ranging from 3.5 to 4 million tons of equivalent units by the year 2030.

Wanzhou expects the 50-square-kilometre area to accommodate 80 to 90,000 people and 40 to 50 companies by 2030.

He said that the first phase of construction until 2025, will focus on the part that will be built on land, as the floating area is still in the "early stages of design".

He described the city of Oxagon as a modern model of the city of Venice, where climate change will lead to a rise in sea levels, and the city will be floating in the form of a floating boat, according to the final conception of the project.

Wanshu said that "NEOM" is studying linking the "Oxagon" port with northeastern Saudi Arabia and the wider region first by land transport and then by rail, pointing out that port operations with container capacity will start in the middle of 2022 and will expand from there.

He added that the project could eventually serve commercial tenants in NEOM, the jewel of the Saudi crown prince's vision, as well as the Gulf region, Jordan and Iraq.

Oxagon's announcement comes in addition to other ambitious projects in Saudi Arabia, including:

1. The Line , a proposed carbon-neutral city passing through the NEOM area, is to be built on a line approximately 170 km long, ending at the Red Sea.
2. The Rig is a tourist and entertainment city built on top of an abandoned oil platform in the Arabian Gulf, and includes various options for hospitality, accommodation, adventure and marine sports experiences.
3. “Prince Mohammed bin Salman Non-Profit City”, a planned city in the capital Riyadh that will house non-profit companies and sustainable businesses.