Saudi Arabia's ambitious Neom project, or The Line, appears to have run into unexpected problems. Construction has not even begun yet, and costs have already skyrocketed.

At the heart of Neom is The Line, a monumental project consisting of two skyscrapers. They are taller than the Empire State Building and stretch for an impressive 105 miles (168 kilometers) across the desert, ending at the Red Sea coast.

The scale of this project requires significant financial resources. The initial budget for the project was $500 billion, but the costs are exceeding forecasts.

Sources close to the project say that the first 2.5 kilometers of the pipeline alone will cost more than $100 billion, with total costs likely to exceed $2 trillion, more than Brazil's GDP.