The construction of Mega Project Neom, Saudi Arabia was always going to have an array of dark twists and turns. This is due to its labour being driven by an authoritarian government that had no experience or regard in how to build it appropriately or treat the workers it employs. Now a Pakistani migrant worker has died due to poor safety conditions. Human rights organization ALQST compiled a briefing paper that highlighted the environmental and human rights concerns surrounding the progress of Neom. It also included a report on the death of the Pakistani civil engineer Abdul Wali Skandar.
Named Neom: a human rights and environmental impact assessment, the briefing document was created to give companies working on the project, or considering working on the project, information about the reported human rights and environmental concerns. “This briefing seeks to factcheck the Neom PR machine and inform businesses engaged in or considering involvement in the project of the serious risks, urging them to use the leverage at their disposal to speak out against the related rights abuses,” ALQST project officer Celia Le Noe told Dezeen. “Our research indeed reveals many additional concerns, from labour rights abuses, highlighted by the death of a worker on a construction site, to the devastating environmental impact,” she continued. ALQST produced the document as it believes that the project is being used to improve the standing of Saudi Arabia and its de facto leader, crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, and deflect from the country’s wider issues.
In a world where we should increasingly be weary of propaganda and place more emphasis on human rights, rationality and reality the death of a man on a construction raises concern. The fact that is being downplayed by the powers that be in the nation in question does raise concern and alarm bells. The briefing on human rights abuses and the impact on the environment was going to come into existence and took the form it did depending on how far Muhammad bin Salman or MBS was willing to push the impossible to make it happen. MBS in the beginning of the project spared no expense, nor did he care about how safety regulations would be impacted by the massive undertaking. The result is that the project has not only disrupted the natural landscape and environment of the area but has become a death trap for those employed on it.
Neom itself is a mirage to mislead the world. It personifies a faded glory of progress which MBS is using to attract investors.
“Current proposals, if brought to fruition, will create a dystopian urban environment and ecological catastrophe,” said Le Noe. “And even before the project’s realisation, Neom is creating an aura of Saudi modernity and globalism that is being used to consolidate the personal authority of its author, Mohammed bin Salman, and lend a spurious legitimacy to his repressive one-man rule.” The briefing document draws attention to human rights concerns that have been highlighted by ALQST and others, including forced evictions and migrant worker conditions. The conditions of migrant workers in Saudi Arabia were recently highlighted in an ITV documentary, which stated that there have reportedly been 21,000 migrant worker fatalities in the country since the Saudi Vision 2030 projects began eight years ago.
The briefing document contains a report on Pakistani civil engineer Abdul Wali Skandar Khan, who reportedly died on a Neom construction site after a guardrail collapsed. According to the human rights organisation, it is the “first death of a migrant worker on a Neom site” that has been documented.
The NEOM project is a major cause for concern. Although the construction of this futuristic metropolis promises to introduce renewable energy such solar, wind and hydrogen to its infrastructure its size and shape is unconventional. A linear city known as the line is going to be a double skyscraper of 225 meters in height and 275 meters wide in width. It is going to impact the landscape somewhat negatively. Its construction will already cause damage to the surrounding environment. Neom was created as a showpiece of propaganda by MBS, his pet project. Apart from the staggering line, the project includes a sports village and mountain resort known as Trojena, an oxagon shaped port on the Red Sae known as Oxagon and an island resort known as Sindhala.
All this was meant to serve as a major tourism and industry hub in Saudi Arabia’s Tabuk Province. However, the Saudi Kingdom is an absolute monarchy in which MBS rules supreme as Crown Prince in his father King Salman bin Abdul Aziz’s stead. The rights of workers especially foreign expatriates take a back seat. It is a huge risk for the those of a poor working class back ground to be working in the Kingdom.
Meanwhile the resorts on the islands of Sindalah have been completed.
Part of the plan, the completion of Sindalah, an island resort in the Red Sea designed by Italian firm Luca Dini Design and Architecture, was recently announced. Neom’s first inaugurated region, the resort is described as a “luxury island destination” located five kilometers from the coast. The island features hotels, restaurants and clubs, including the Sindalah Yacht Club, which boasts interiors designed by Italian fashion brand Stefano Ricci. It also has a beach club and golf club, as well as retail outlets and yacht management services. Visitors to the island-which plans to host 2,400 visitors a day by 2028-which has been described by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as the “future of luxury travel”-can choose from 440 rooms, 88 villas and more than 200 serviced apartments.
So, it might appear that at least one part of this Megapolis will be complete. MBS may treat it as a small triumph. Sindalah will no doubt be made to cater to the rich and the wealthy middle class. Largely foreign tourists. The fact that this is a place where both sexes can intermingle freely will attract the ire of conservatives. However, no one with in Saudi Arabia from the royal family to the Ulema can oppose the Crown Prince’s plans. The deaths of over 21,000 workers employed in the construction of this metropolitan smart city will cast a dismal shadow over the opening of Sindalah. MBS may be competing against God and nature and this could at some point prove to be his loss. The “future of luxury travel” may attract new money to the Saudi coffers but will it go to improving the lives of the people?
How many holiday makers will be willing to visit these islands fuelled by environmentally friendly energy when they hear of the poor and horrendous treatment of the workers on the Line? Only time will tell how the Line, Sindallah and the other Neom megaprojects will manifest.
Article written by:
Yacoob Cassim
Journalist at Radio Al Ansaar
