Billionaire backers of new California city reveal map and details of proposed development

In this aerial photo is farmland in rural Solano County, California, on Aug 30, 2023. The people behind a secretive Silicon Valley-backed ballot initiative to construct a new city on farmland between Sacramento and San Francisco are releasing more details of their plan as they submit paperwork on Jan 17, 2024, to qualify for the November election. — AP

SAN FRANCISCO: The company backed by Silicon Valley billionaires that for years stealthily snapped up more than US$800mil (RM3.77bil) worth of rural land for a new walkable, affordable and green city between San Francisco and Sacramento now needs voters to embrace the idea.

Jan Sramek, the former Goldman Sachs trader spearheading the effort, will speak Wednesday about his plans to create a walkable California city flush with affordable housing and jobs on what's now mostly farmland. His California Forever company needs approval from Solano County voters to bypass protections put in place in 1984 to keep agricultural land from being turned into urban space.