One, you've got a giant vertical wall that can have building integrated PV for windows.
TWo, you've got a shaded area on the north side.
Three, they're building it partly undergound, which is good for hot climates.
Four, it's planned as a post-car, walkable city which in general is an exciting concept.
Five, it appears to be going for an enclosed living area, which is seen as dystopic by people who live in moderate climates, but has always made sense to me for regions with extreme weather (hot or cold) and doing it on a scale that might avoid the downsides of feeling like you're shut in.
Redundancy of infrastructure in a linear city strikes me as a potential problem, as is the fact that one end is near the sea and the other end just seems randomly inland. If there's some purpose to the location that I'm not aware of (joining two important places for example) then it's an interesting response to the 'organic' growth of sprawl that occurs when you have two cities linked by a fast communication route, by planning it in advance.