The extensive foundation work taking place at The Line site in northwestern Saudi Arabia has been released by Neom at property fair MIPIM.

Shared by The Line chief operating officer Giles Pendleton on LinkedIn, the video – titled February progress report – shows construction continuing on the mega city.

A video showing construction on The Line was released at MIPIM

The video shows the extensive work taking place, including clearing the site and preparing for foundations and piling operations for the city, which is planned to stretch 170 kilometres across Saudi Arabia.

It appears that the work is taking place on the first phase of the development, where The Line meets the Red Sea and includes the Hidden Marina.

According to a recently released video by Neom, which describes the works as "the world's biggest earthworks operation", this first phase will be completed by 2030.

One of the world's largest and most controversial building projects, The Line city is planned to consist of a pair of parallel skyscrapers that will each be 500 metres high.

The concept for the city was developed by US studio Morphosis. Its founder Thomas Mayne explained the thinking behind the design in a Discovery Channel documentary last year.

According to the documentary, the city will be divided into 140 modules that will each be 800 metres long and designed by different architects.

Although it is not known which architecture studios have designed the modules currently under construction, studios including Morphosis, Cook Haffner Architecture Platform and Pei Cobb Freed & Partners have been connected to the project.

The city has been criticised on sustainability and human rights grounds, with human rights organisation ALQST reporting that three men were sentenced to death after being "forcibly evicted" from the Neom site. The UN Human Rights Council has expressed "alarm" over the imminent executions. Saudi Arabia responded to the UN by denying abuses had taken place.

The Line forms part of the wider Neom project, which also includes the Trojena ski resort being masterplanned by German studio LAVA and the Oxagon port city being designed by Danish studio BIG.

The main image is courtesy of Giles Pendleton.