Saudi Arabia's Neom project was intended to be a city of the future, the culmination of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's Saudi Vision 2030 plan to diversify the national economy away from oil.
a wall street journal exposed and revealed The futuristic city's construction site is plagued by complaints of gang rape, drinking, drugs, and suicide attempts by the 100,000 workers gathered there.
of neom project It began in 2017 at the northern tip of the Red Sea and was touted as a carefully planned megacity spanning more than 10,000 square miles, built using the latest technology. The name is a combination of the well-known Greek prefix “neo” meaning “new” and the Arabic “mustaqbal” meaning “future”. By a happy coincidence, “M” is also the first letter of the Crown Prince's name.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), Saudi Arabia's de facto chief executive and architect of economic transformation, said the city is a statement of the kingdom's financial strength and an opportunity to attract more foreign investment. I envisioned it being both.
MBS hoped these investors would be attracted to Neom's futuristic style and “green” architecture, which emphasizes the use of solar and wind power. The project also promotes “social responsibility” in construction projects, annual report Amenities and educational opportunities provided to a vast workforce.
of wall street journal (WSJ) Saturday published be disappointing report It portrayed the reality of Neom's construction as bordering on “dystopia.” The project took a very public effort to avoid accounts of exploitation and poor working conditions surrounding other large-scale construction works by Saudi Arabia and other Gulf monarchies, but the same story goes for Neom's work. It is also flowing in from the field.
Neom employees have reported incidents of gang rapes, suicides, attempted murders, and drug dealing at the site, which will cover an area the size of Massachusetts. Last year, a McKinsey consultant was killed in a head-on collision at night, despite safety staff warning Neom management about the dangers of driving late on local roads. In one of the migrant worker camps, workers staged violent protests over food complaints. Eight-year-old children were caught driving a truck.
Some of this appears to be the result of management practices common in major Saudi projects, leading to “cost overruns, staff turnover, and a culture of bullying and harassment.” Unfair reporting (including) WSJ, It has forced several executives from Saudi Arabia's most prestigious projects to resign.
Ironically, one of Neom's biggest problems was that the construction sites for its elegantly designed futuristic city were very poorly designed. The workforce lives in a shabby collection of overcrowded modular structures with poor safety standards and little provision of emergency services.
The Neom facility finally has its own hospital, complete with ambulances and emergency helicopters, but workers said: WSJ The project “continues to experience challenges in preventing and responding to incidents.”
Part of this difficulty is due to the remote location of the work site, which should one day become a huge city but is currently far from a competent city administration. The local people, a tribe called the Huwaytat, were dissatisfied with seeing their ancestral land degraded. The Saudi government showed little interest in their opposition, forcing many Huwaytat people from their homes and charging those who resisted with terrorism charges.
There aren't that many traffic cops in the area, and there are rumors that those who work in Neombito drive past traffic accidents they have no desire to deal with.
Neom has reported a reasonable level of occupational accidents for a project of its size. journal However, many road accidents and fatalities occur, from small children driving huge commercial vehicles to poorly lit roads that suddenly cut off and send speeding cars plunging into pristine wilderness. The cause is the cause. The two-hour drive from work to the nearest famous city turns into a thrilling thrill ride when the journey ends in Neom.
The initial temporary housing camps for workers were reportedly fairly well designed and constructed, but as the size of the working population grew, “informal” camps, which were far less safe and comfortable, emerged. did. Saudi Arabia's prohibition laws were not actively enforced in the camps, so alcohol abuse was widespread and drug abuse soon developed. Workplace injuries and fatalities increased significantly in 2023, including accidents on various offshore construction projects, and the shortage of rescue services was particularly acute.
Human Rights Watch (HRW), early December published A more scathing report on Neom is titled “Die First, Pay Later.” The title was a sarcastic remark made by a Saudi manager to a Nepali worker who was angry about not being paid.
According to HRW, Saudi Arabia's generally poor treatment of migrant workers continues in the $500 billion Neom project. Foreign workers at the Neom facility have complained of being paid far less than promised, and their workload has steadily increased as key project deadlines approach.
“They give us daily goals and we have to achieve them anyway. The supervisors don't treat us well. They make us overexert ourselves. We cannot stand still during working hours. We have to work continuously,” said one Neom construction worker.
Despite Saudi Arabia passing labor reforms in 2021 outlawing such practices, Neom workers, like those on other major Saudi projects, are not allowed to change jobs and will lose money if they quit. They complain that they are being threatened with financial penalties.
