Neum City: What is the truth behind the city's friendly planning plan in the Saudi desert?

Luminous beaches glow in the dark, billions of trees in a country dominated by the desert, rail trains hanging in the air, a factory moon, a car free and carbon -free city built on a straight line of more than 100 miles in the desert.These are some NEOM plans, which is a future city that is part of Saudi Arabia's orientation to become environmentally friendly.But the urgent question here: Does this expected city seem good to the extent that it is difficult to believe?

NEOM claims that it is "a future scheme that develops and is advanced by humanity without compromising the safety of the planet."It is a project worth $ 500 billion (366 billion pounds), and it is part of the Kingdom's 2030 vision aimed at stopping the country's economy's dependence on oil - that industry that made it rich in the first place.

The upcoming city covers a total area of more than 26,500 square kilometers (10230 square miles) - which makes it larger than Kuwait or Israel - and the developers claim that NEOM will be entirely outside the borders of the current Saudi judicial system, and that it will be governed by an independent legal system formulated by investors.

Ali Al -Shihabi, a former banker who is now working in the Consultative Council of Naoum, says that the huge area will include a 170 -km city, called the Line (The Line), which will extend on a straight road across the desert.

Al -Shihabi explains that the line will be built in stages, a bloc after another, and says: "Some people see that this is a crazy project and will cost huge sums, but it will be built unit after another, in a way that meets the purpose."

It will be very similar to the "large residential squares" free of traffic in Barcelona, and explains that each square will be self -sufficient and contains amenities such as shops and schools, so that anything one needs five minutes on foot or bike.

Upon completion, travel along the line (The Line) will be through high -speed trains, so that the longest trip "does not exceed 20 minutes", the developers said.

Moreover, NEOM will be home to Oxagon, a city that floats on 7 km water, making it the largest floating building in the world.The CEO of Neum, Nizami Al -Nasr, said that the coastal city "will welcome its first tenants at the beginning of 2022."

In a place not so far on the Red Sea coast from this "Industrial Center", NEOM announced plans for the world's largest project to rehabilitate coral reefs.Its website, which sometimes appears to be something of a science fiction, claims that the first stage of the huge region will be completed by 2025.

But this is the vision, and the reality, at least at the present time, appears more modest in stages.

Satellite images currently show that one square was built in the desert, as well as homes, with a swimming pool and a football field.Ali Al -Shihabi says this is a residential complex for NEOM employees.

But how much is the ability to build a sophisticated city that amounts to the level of promises to commit to being environmentally friendly (depends heavily on sustainable energy) in the middle of the desert?

Dr. Manal Al -Shihabi, energy expert at Oxford University, says that when you assess the extent of NEOM, there are many things to consider.We should know whether food is produced locally with a system that does not use a large amount of resources?Or will it depend on food imports from abroad?

The site claims that NEOM will become "the most self -sufficient city in the world in terms of food", and draws a vision of vertical agriculture and green houses (greenhouses), which is revolutionary for a country currently importing about 80 percent of its food.There are questions about whether this can be sustainable.

Teenage taps, from the presentation of a dignity as a vehicle and prepared by Mays Baqi.

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Critics accuse Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is the driving force behind the NEOM project, of "green washing", that is, providing great promises about the environment to distract attention from reality.

The "huge project" is part of the Crown Prince's vision of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as a more green and sustainable place.A week before the COP26 Climate Summit negotiations, he also launched the Saudi Green Initiative, announcing the goal of reducing carbon emissions to a zero level by 2060.

كان يُنظر إلى ذلك في بداية الأمر على أنه خطوة كبيرة إلى الأمام في مجال المناخ، لكنه كهدف لا يبدو قابلا للتحقيق عند فحصه وتحليله، كما تقول الدكتورة جوانا ديبليدج، الخبيرة في مفاوضات تغير المناخ من جامعة كامبريدج. وتشير إلى أنه من أجل إبقاء الارتفاع الحراري للأرض عند مستوى 1.5 درجة مئوية، يجب أن ينخفض ​​إنتاج النفط العالمي السنوي بنسبة 5 في المئة تقريبا، من الآن وحتى عام 2030.

However, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia promised to increase oil production just weeks after the announcement of its green initiative at the COP26 climate this year.According to media reports, the Minister of Energy, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, said that the Saudis will not stop pumping oil: "We will be the last to stop producing oil, and we will extract the last hydrocarbon atom from our land."

"I think it is slow that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia still thinks that it can continue to exploit and extract this oil in the current context," says Dr. Dibeldge.

The emissions of any country that burns it, not from the fuel it produces.Therefore, if a country like Saudi Arabia produces millions of barrels annually, and ships it abroad to other countries, the Kingdom does not have to calculate it.

But even at the local level, Saudi Arabia still has a long road, although its last goal is to generate 50 percent of electricity using renewable energy by 2030, but only about 0.1 percent of electricity was generated in this way in a year.2019.

'Creative thinking'

NEOM defenders say it is necessary to start again and build a smart and sustainable city that operates wind and solar energy, while providing water from carbon -free desalination plants.

"The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia needs some creative thinking, because the water in the Middle East is running out."

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a barren country, as about half of its water is produced through water desalination plants - an industrial facility that removes salt from water - operated with fossil fuel.

The process of desalination of water in this way is an expensive process and the secondary product is disposed of, which is a mixture of saline solution and toxic chemicals, in the sea, which may result in severe consequences on marine environmental systems.

Renewable energy will be used in the NEOM water desalination process, and the saline solution caused by the process will be used as an industrial raw material, rather than dumping it again at sea.But there is only one obstacle, as it was not able to succeed in the use of renewable energies with desalination plants.

Al -Shihabi admits that NEOM is "a purely pilot project, but if we can solve the water problem in the Middle East, if this project succeeds only, then all work on the NEOM project deserves trouble."

But climate experts are concerned that relying on unprofitable techniques can hinder important measures against climate change, and therefore this project is sometimes described as "technological optimism".

In fact, there are great questions about what is NEOM.

Perhaps the terrain that is locked between the Red Sea coast and the Jordanian mountain border seemed to be an ideal empty fabric plate for building a small country.However, there are people who already live on that spot, and they are the members of the tribe of the traditional ancient Huwaiths.Although the project is promising to create job opportunities and produce wealth in this underdeveloped area, the local population has not seen any benefits so far.

Human rights activists say that two towns have been evacuated, and about 20,000 people belonging to the Al -Huwaytat tribe were forcibly removed, without appropriate compensation, in order to build a huge city."The efforts made to the forced displacement of the indigenous population are efforts that violate each of the rules of international human rights law," says Sarah Leah Whitson, Executive Director of the Democracy in the Arab world.

In April 2020, Abdul Rahim Al -Hwaiti was killed after he refused to leave his house in Tabuk and posted on the Internet.A few days later, the Saudi security forces shot him, as expected.

A spokesman for the Saudi embassy in Washington, Fahd Nazer, rejected the allegations of the forced deportation of Al -Huwaytat, although he did not argue in the killing of Abdul Rahim Al -Hwaiti, but rather described him as a "simple accident."

Tourists and the rich

Also, NEOM's brilliant public relations efforts - part of an attempt to attract tourists to diversify the sources of the Saudi economy - have opened the way for criticism.Flashing promotional videos show all the luster and magic of a global city with its laws and security forces, which is an independent area of the old guard that rules the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

But critics say that the project will often benefit the wealthy.There have been reports of building palaces of the country's royal family, and satellite images show a landing of vertical aircraft and a golf course among the first construction projects.

Ali Al -Shihabi says that the city will harbor everyone "from workers to billionaires", although he admits that this is not the way it is seen.

"I think the NEOM problem is that it failed in the strategy of communicating a clear picture of people, as many believe that it will be the preserve of the rich," he says.

A difficult option

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said: "The start of this journey was not an easy to refer to the environment, but we do not avoid difficult options ... We refuse to undergo a bad option between preserving the economy or protecting the environment."

NEOM is clearly part of this vision.But until now the Saudis avoid the most difficult option, which is to move away from the production of fossil fuels.

Manal Al -Shihabi, Oxford Energy expert, says that stopping dependence on fuel will be difficult."I think it will be extremely difficult economically expected that any country that depends largely depends on oil and gas suddenly stop their use, and to stop exploiting the resources it has."

The Saudis say they respond to the world's energy needs."The truth is that the demand for hydrocarbons around the world is still standing," says Saudi Embassy spokesman Fahd Nazer.

Behind the scenes, the Saudis and other countries that depend on fossil fuels are constantly alleviating the dialect about international climatic obligations, says Dr. Dibeldge.

This was evident at the top of the COP26 climate."The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was very intensively interfering in an attempt to refer to the uncertainty, costs and natural effects to reduce the importance of the problem of climate change," says Dippelidge, who continued negotiations in Glasgow.

"This is the type of discourse that Saudi Arabia has promoted since the beginning of climate change negotiations."

But Fahd Nazer, a spokesman for the Saudi government, denies allegations of money laundering and insists that Saudi Arabia is heading towards a more consideration of the environment.

Despite the continuing questions about whether NEOM would fulfill its promises, Ali Al -Shihabi should reserve an apartment on the "The Line" line before others preceded us.