The Saudi news outlet Al Arabiya published an extensive look on Friday at the status of Neom, a futuristic city Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is building in the northwest of the country, that described it as a bustling “family friendly” community – a far cry from widespread reports of violence, drug abuse, and mismanagement of construction sites previously reported.
“Neom” was initially announced as the crown jewel of Mohammed bin Salman’s “Vision 2030” project: a “green” city with zero emissions featuring seemingly impossible feats of architecture such as a 106-mile-long skyscraper housing 5 million people.
That skyscraper, “The Line,” is still reportedly under construction and, its builders insist, will feature only walkable communities that will “free” residents from having to use cars or ever leave the building, raising significant civil rights concerns.
File/The wreck of a Catalina seaplane, abandoned by its American pilot in 1960 and now covered in Arabic graffiti sits in the desert at Ras Hameed, Saudi Arabia, on Friday, Feb. 26, 2016. Its here that Saudi Arabia’s crown prince plans Neom, a city from scratch that will be bigger than Dubai and have more robots than humans. (Glen Carey/Bloomberg via Getty)
“The Line” is the most ambitious project in the city but far from the only one. Saudi government officials have announced the construction of, among other regions: a high-tech floating office park known as “Oxagon,” a marine retreat known as “Sindalah,” a sports and stadium complex in the mountains known as “Trojena,” and the luxury coastal resort area of “Magna.” Sindalah is the only region open to visitors at press time.
“Neom will compete with Miami in terms of entertainment, culture, sports, and retail,” the crown prince insisted in a 2023 interview.
Neom’s reputation has taken several significant hits, from reports of Saudi government officials killing members of the local indigenous community opposed to being ethnically cleansed out of the site of the future city to foreign workers facing deadly risks while living and commuting in the construction sites. Al Arabiya’s report insisted that no such dangers exist and featured a family of employees at the Neom site who were the first to have a baby while working on Neom (the baby was born in Riyadh, as Neom had no major medical facilities beyond basic areas to respond to work injuries at the time).
“I think it showed that his a great place to have families and I am so happy to see how many people have chosen to grow their families like us,” Natasha Martin, who gave birth to daughter Josie while working for the Neom Nature Reserve in 2021, explained to Al Arabiya. Martin praised the future city for its “proximity to all the things you need,” such as “a great school [and] a great healthcare system.”
Martin claimed that Neom is already home to “thousands” of children, presumably not counting the members of the ousted Huwaitat tribe indigenous to the area; Al Arabiya estimated that the community she lives in hosts 7,500 workers.
:A man-made community, designed for those shaping one of the world’s most ambitious plans, features thousands of mountain lodge-style cabins,” the Saudi outlet detailed, “penthouse flats, and residential lodgings. Interwoven with amenities – including schools, health centers, gyms, upscale restaurants, basketball courts, and swimming pools.”
“It’s become much more family-friendly. Now we have two-bedroom cabins, and there’s a whole soccer program for the kids,” Martin beamed.
The image presented by the Saudi outlet contrasted significantly with an exposé published by the Wall Street Journal in December of an anarchic “dystopia” where car accidents were common due to excessive drinking and drug abuse.
“Neom employees have reported incidents of gang rape, suicide, attempted murder and drug dealing on the site, slated to cover an area the size of Massachusetts,” the Journal alleged. “Last year, a McKinsey consultant died in a head-on crash at night even after safety staff warned Neom management about the danger of driving late on the region’s roads.”
File/Saudi CEO of NEOM Nadhmi al-Nasr speaks during the last day of the Future Investment Initiative FII conference in the Saudi capital Riyadh on October 25, 2018. (FAYEZ NURELDINE/AFP via Getty Images)
“Children as young as 8 have been caught driving trucks,” it added.
Part of the problem, the Journal reported, was that the workforce, largely made up of foreign manual laborers, swelled more rapidly than the Saudi government could account for, resulting in the construction of dangerous “unofficial” worker camps. The newspaper also reported that Neom was insufficiently equipped with emergency services, meaning those injured often failed to get adequate medical attention in time.
Neom reportedly fired its original CEO, Nadhmi al-Nasr, shortly before the publication of the Journal report. While the Neom corporation did not offer any information regarding the change in authority, al-Nasr had reportedly developed a reputation for abuse and allowing violence on site.
Al Arabiya’s report emphasized the imposition of “advanced security measures” and expanded emergency services, though the report raised separate concerns about human rights and potential over-reliance on artificial intelligence. Neom officials claimed that they are using AI and facial recognition software to increase security measures on-site.
“The AI will tell you what to do. It’s helping us make decisions. That’s why we are trying to eliminate human error,” one security official claimed.
The official claimed ominously, “we are predicting emergencies before they happen.”
This week, Neom announced the beginning of the upward construction of the first part of The Line, an area called the “Hidden Marina” that will serve to store and maintain ships.
The “Hidden Marina,” Neom officials claimed, would be home to 200,000 people.
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