Bedouin villages have been bulldozed by the Saudi government to create room for the futuristic ecoregion.
After learning that Saudi authorities were razing villages to make room for the $500 billion project, the founder of the green energy company Solar Water withdrew from a $100 million contract to assist in the construction of the futuristic eco-region NEOM, according to a Business Insider story published on May 10.
The main project of Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030 initiative is NEOM, which aims to modernize the country, diversify its economy away from oil, and make it a center for innovation and upscale travel.
The Line, a megacity that will be 170 km (106 miles) long and only 200 m (656 ft) wide, is one of the project’s features. It will run solely on renewable energy and be free of cars.
The CEO and founder of Solar Water, Malcolm Aw, stated that he canceled the NEOM contract in 2022 even though his company had already built desalination plants there because he was so horrified by reports of violations of human rights.
Aw remarked, “It is just unbelievable how they just bulldoze their way right through villages.”
On the same day that the BBC reported that Saudi authorities had approved the use of deadly force to clear land for NEOM, Aw spoke with Business Insider.
Colonel Rabih Alenezi, a former Saudi intelligence officer, told the BBC that after receiving an order to remove members of the Huwaitat tribe, one of them was shot and killed for demonstrating against the eviction.
The management of NEOM and the Saudi government declined to comment to the BBC.
Three villages, including schools and hospitals, were completely destroyed to make room for NEOM, according to satellite images obtained by the BBC.
According to Colonel Alenezi, the April 2020 clearance order stated that the Huwaitat tribe was made up of “many rebels” and that “whoever continues to resist [eviction] should be killed,” allowing for the use of lethal force against those who remained in their homes.
One of the villagers, Abdul Rahim al-Huwaiti, refused to allow a land registry committee to value his property and was shot dead by Saudi authorities the next day during the clearance mission. He had previously posted multiple videos on social media protesting the evictions.
Solar Water founder Aw went on to say that Saudi officials “tried to turn the entire province into Dubai or Qatar or something, but in doing so, they are clearing out the people who have been there for years.”
Most desalination plants use fossil fuels, but Aw’s company uses solar energy instead. NEOM had offered Aw’s company $100 million for exclusive rights to his technology.
“What they are doing is unethical, and they are creating exclusivity by housing wealthy people in a wealthy tourist area. But that was not the original plan. “The goal was to create a green scenario,” he explained.
