Neom: Can Saudi Arabia afford the futuristic eco-city? - The Global Story podcast, BBC World Service
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- Опубликовано: 28 авг 2024
- Neom, Saudi Arabia's ambitious city of the future, promises a car-free, carbon-free space open to all. At the heart of the plans are two skyscrapers as tall as the Empire State building, carved into the desert in a straight line for more than 100 miles. But can this dream ever become a reality?
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Katya Adler is joined by BBC Verify's Merlyn Thomas, who has been investigating allegations that Saudi security forces were permitted to use lethal force while clearing inhabitants from the vast building site, and BBC Middle East Business Correspondent, Sameer Hashmi, who tells us that Saudi Arabia is banking on Neom to help future proof its economy, but that they might struggle to cover the rising costs of the project.
00:07 Introduction
01:19 What is Neom?
02:22 What does Neom tell us about Saudi Arabia?
03:39 Difficulties investigating Neom
05:07 How important is Neom to Saudi Arabia?
06:12 Locals displaced to build Neom
07:27 Death of local protestor
09:28 Green credentials of Neom
11:14 Accusations of greenwashing
12:20 Saudi Arabia's plans for oil and renewables
13:22 The cost of Neom
14:06 "Double the annual government budget"
15:51 Questions about the design of The Line
16:28 Will Neom and The Line become reality?
17:27 Can Saudi Arabia achieve their commercial aims with Neom?
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Why on Earth would anyone invest on a project even the saudis can't afford? Are they going to charge 20 million a month in rent to all the people dying to move to an air conditioned prison in the desert? This will never be built.
Oh, So bc you are saying it will never be built that’s mean you are right ?, We are humans we don’t know what’s going to happen, we love seeing opinions not judges, don’t talk like you knew every picture in this world.
@@oFaisalokid named logistics
@@oFaisalombs wasying money. Why +
Remind me, wasn’t Las Vegas a desert project once?
@@oFaisalowe are humans and we can think and see the flaws in a ridiculous project if we are honest and open-minded for 10 minutes. This project is a waste of money of energy of minerals of work of intelligence. We are in 2024 and the age of fossil fuel ⛽️ is soon over. We are moving to sustainable solutions for living and that means sufficiency and regenerating soils and natural habitats. Not doing vanity projects as if we were in the 1970s. We have sciences now. Megalomaniac autocrats are a plague on humanity
A British talking about human rights and an Indian discussing carbon emissions. Maybe you both should focus on your countries ?
They can do both. What are you doing about societal problems?
I agree it's disgusting, when it comes to our region they all became omniscient😅
Dumbest project in modern history
I thought this too, but after seeing the record heat in India and realising that a 2 degree global increase in temperature will cause a 10 degree increase during peak time, they better build as fast as they can. Or build and dig underground.
They called Dubai madness too, see Dubai now?
Nothing is impossible
Burj Khalifa in Dubai was called one day a dumb project by dummies
The 2 dummies above don't understand physics! 🤡
The 2 🤡 above don't understand physics! 😂
They will build 1kms and the absurdity of it will be revealed in a hard way so they will renounce. Costs will be out of control and the economic viability is unattainable and last but not least nobody will want to live there.
it is a joke. you can supposedly go from one end to the other in 20 minutes. the original plan was for it to be 170 kms. i guess there wouldnt be a single stop along the way to achieve such ridiculous speeds lol
Who is nobody?
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The Line would be a great Sand collector especially with Sand Storms becoming more extreme
Well you look to old to ever see it completed so ......
The Line is a JOKE 🤡👍🤣
@@mikafiltenborg7572
Thank you for commenting your opinion really matters
In history, Neom will be known as MBS' folly!
We will see "Mujtaba" Im sure your saying this based on intense analysis and research and not emotional sectarianism.
@@ABN_RUclips Panjabi asee akerma da
Who still has questions? This Neom thing is nonsense beyond any question 🤣
Personally, I think NEOM sounds amazing.
You are not allowed to under the agenda.
But in reality, it's the biggest project in earth investing in future technologies, which would improve our lives.
Saudi Arabia can afford Neom but this is simply a vanity project that isn’t going to benefit those that live there. Cities exist in a circular type pattern for a reason and ideally it starts from a port. You can still develop green tech, green transport and a healthier city that all can benefit from. Having a line as a city simply introduces unnecessary duplication of services that actually creates inefficiencies and disparities.
Disagree about Saudi Arabia affording it. The Saudi government is in a deficit. The break even oil price for the Saudi Arabia government budget is $80 per barrel (to avoid a deficit). The sovereign wealth fund is running out of cash ( in the news). The board has been shaken up, and the Saudi Arabia government is now floating bonds in the market to finish the projects. A lot of questions remain on the projects feasibility.
Very true @@saiyedakhtar3931
If it had be random Would it blow up like it did?, it supposed to be a vanity project that why your commenting here and that's what brings people to your country to see something that has never been created before.
I heard they were importing sand from Australia. Why can’t they just be more innovative. The dessert is filled with sand. To experiment with. This stupid line is so unnecessary too. Palestine is under the rubble and this is where their priority is? :/
They can't afford sht.
Forest is NEVER appears in one day.
Saudi think money can bring in the forest, she can have the superficial tops, not the roots.
hear! hear! great comment.
They literally build man made lake in a sandy soil 😂
What the heck are you trying to say? I'm completely confused.
@@i-qwery 🤣🤣🤣🤣😭
@@mlee9734 Lol .. what's he tryna say... They got no ROOTS . . BLOODY ROOTS!
🤣💥
Best of luck for Saudi Arabia 🇸🇦 💚
I like the idea of the project
This entirely avoided the GIGANTIC ELEPHANT in the room.
saudis can go even better than sweden, finland, norway and denmark BUT NOPE ! Lets build hollywood cyberpunk style futuristic city🙈
Real question is. Why British so salty?
Saudi Arabia has money for that, but not to receive refugees from Syria, Afghanistan, etc. 🙄🙄🙄
Why should rich help the poor??
@@balajib1406because it’s Islamic teaching which you can’t understand especially a person from capitalism
They could do more, yes, but refuge is a world's problem to solve
Dude, every nation looks after its interest, if two people fight why should we be bothered??@@chemophile14
Work of IMPOTENT Christians
Why don't you interview a Saudi or representative of Neom?
Because it doesn’t serve the narrative that they are driving for.
Real estate 101: location location location. No one wants to buy a cubicle in a glass sheet in the middle of the effing desert!!!
0% income tax.
Bit like Las Vegas
@@spurs541 No nothing like Vegas, it's a glass cage in the middle of a human rights violation where you are being monitored 24/7. It's just dumb.
Everyone is being politically correct. A building one km high running over 170 km long is simply not practical. It's not practical today, it won't be practical in a decade from now.
It's not just not practical but not feasible. It was all bollocks since day 1!
Applied for 5 jobs for NEOM and always get rejected. Sad 😥
Ats system does not work it is crap 😂
No one in their right mind will invest in SA, they will have to self fund until it is finished.
Well Saudi proved to be a successful Nation when it comes to its economy , don't tell me its only because of oil , Iraq Iran Venezuela Libya Algeria Nigeria all have oil with bad economy and underdeveloped nations .
While Saudi Arabia and the UAE had success with one of the best infrastructures in the world and a working economy
@AdamSomething is going to have a field day with this
Lol I thought the same 😂
Anxious for his video
I'm pretty sure he already has a video on it
@@MusaMecanica he hasnt made the video making fun about the line now that the project went from 170 kilometers to 1.7 kms lmaoooo
I would be much less sceptical of the Line if it wasn't a line. There just doesn't seem to be much rationale for that being the form factor of a city. A circular city is most efficient from the perspective of minimising travel from any given A-to-B distance, which is why human cities are generally circular (albeit adapted to local geography).
If I were given a near-limitless budget and to design a futuristic city in Saudi Arabia from scratch, I'd probably make something at least semi-subterranean. The biggest challenge the whole region is going to have is when temperatures get so insanely hot, it is lethal to be outside for more than a few minutes in multiple days every summer, and highly uncomfortable the rest of the season. That seems like it'd be a major drag on most sectors, especially tourism.
They called burj Khalifa “dumb project” look at it now, nothing is impossible, if inventors didn’t do the “impossible” we wouldn’t have planes, cars, trains, etc. at the end we are humans, we don’t know what going to happen in the future.
This vanity project can hardly be called a great invention. It is complete and pointless folly created to satisfy a few people's delusion of grandeur. The time, money and effort to construct this nonsense could be applied elsewhere to provide an actual benefit to people who would be truly grateful. Instead, it's being used to construct a monolithic in the sand.
exactly! it's a long-haul project... NEOM is basically one of the last frontiers... it takes a lot of time, blood sweat and tears... People forget how the US started, not that long ago... first, random small settlements, then we draw lines between them, and develop bit by bit. You eat an elephant one bite at a time!
And the burj khalifa is still idiotic.
Funny thing though, have you seen the great line of sewarage trucks that line up every day to take the pee and crap away as there is no sewerage connection for the Burj, makes you wonder where they "process it".
Anyone with a brain can see it's jus t a dumb idea, it's pointless, just a vanity project,....
Absurdity at its height...when they can not even house the Palestinians
Half million of Palestinians are living in Saudi
But what does that have to do with the project?
Why should the palestinian moved out from their land that is stolen.
Its like the africans in UK, asking the UKers to move to Africa.... dont make much sense.
if i gave my 5-year-old nephew a trillion dollars this is what would have been his plans
They designed it like they are predicting a future zombie apocalypse or something. Why does the city need to be in a rigid long straight line. Why not make it circular so at most you only have to travel half of the circle to get anywhere. So many questions.
there's a lot of inbreeding in the higher up families who decide it - probably not logically thought about in any way
Or they couldve built it along the shoreline. Personally, if im a millionaire investor in it, i want to see beaches when i open my bedroom shades, i dont wanna see acres of sand😅
I believe you thinking of a normal CITY!
Yeah it's a ridiculous idea
Dare to dream.
I dream of women voting in the first election of the Republic of Arabia (we can keep the saud for brand recognition)
I hope they can. I can't enjoy it, but i'd love for it come true.
May Allah bless you with wealth
So that you can one day
Good luck and blessings in life
I won't 😐
@@toolegittoquit_001
Good stay at home
@@ABN_RUclips Oh that's so nice, thank you brother. Good luck and blessed in life to you too.
@@ABN_RUclips every gulf nation's individual that i have met has positive perspective towards wealth its so nice
Am not going to Saudi on holiday 😂
Your free to do what you want ,but can you tell me why you will not go to Saudi Arabia
Go to Zurich 😅
Bceause you are all full of shit and you will never learn to humans @@ABN_RUclips
saudis can go even better than sweden, finland, norway and denmark BUT NOPE ! Lets build hollywood cyberpunk style futuristic city🙈
@@michelleririn5075
One has to raise the bar
This project is the opposite of everything what we know a successful looks like.
Disasterous plan of Salman.
Apart of the video content authenticity, I detest BBC for bias, you aren't free press, shame on you.
6:47 “the underbelly is much, much darker”. No kidding! There is nowhere on earth that is “a blank canvas”! The environmental impact? Animals & people?
He is a liar, brothers. He says he is Saudi, but in fact he is of Yemeni nationality 😂😂😂
Purely vain project😢
I hope the Saudis can pull this one off like Dubai did.
Sindalah Island is in its final stage of completion. Trojena will be ready for the 2029 Asian Olympic games. Octagon is also in final stages of completion. The Line WILL be completed, eventually. Neom is already AMAZING! If you could see it for yourself you'd know:)
Neom will impress the entire world. Despite naysayers it will be a futuristic.
I think it is an incredibly brave and daring project and money well spent rather than on pointless wars? The technologies they will be using is astounding and inspiring!
I personally don't think it is a good idea to build it because the amount of resources they would have to import from foreign countries would be immense. Just think about how with the rise in technology and the race for precious metal like iron, steel, copper, silver ect to build technology and now Saudi Arabia wants to build Neom and then you would need additional resources yearly to maintain because of the environment.
Idea of the project was to market Saudi Arabia and they did a great job. Mbs knew what he was doing. Thereby garnering attention from the investors. Almost every private equity talked about this. Did it generate interest? Possibly yes. Was it ever going to be a tangible investment? No. Now MBS will shift his focus on near to medium term investments.
Not keep your Word is terrible for business. No one believes anything out of saudi arabia
From the beginning it looks like stupid project.
Many things on projection, slides, on paper looks nice only.
For instance you have a house which is not square or rectangular but a long house when you have a diarheoa by the time to go to the end of the house you would create a fragrant map of the world not forgetting cleanup.
How much air con power do you need to cool a square vs a long house; piping, electrical & ease of access.
However if its an isolation, quarantine, storeroom, garage & workshop access to the other side of road for quick get away in case of emergency.
Saudi has potential achievements, I wish successful progress
I feel like this is about criticising Saudi and not really about rationally discussing the feasibility of building NEOM 🤦🏻♂️
Yea I’m almost through the entire video and I’m in agreement with you on that
It's not an eco city if you are building a 170 km long skyscrapers. It's up to journalists to not just accept this label at face value.
"Yes, we can." "Build it and they will come."
The problem is that your "Brand" is not Dubai. Dubai has been liberated from extreme religion and it has a very open society. Saudi promotes religion extensively, and if you want to be like Dubai, it takes time.
I still had to secretly eat a croissant in the mall in dubai behind a curtain, because I do not plan my holidays around ramadan. I was also berated by some old dude for smoking in the street during the day. It was weird, way to warm, never saw any arab person as they almost dont exist there and had great filipino food.
Interesting.... Have alot of questions but figure will read more to understand in future, I guess.
We would want to defy all the rules of physics to build this city ! Confidence to some extent is good , but over confidence is very dangerous!
Building the Panama canal was also no walk in the park. Thousands died from Malaria. The French pulled out because of losses. The US burnt the forest and killed mosquitos before construction.
It took also years to pull through.
The Anglo French Channel aswell, almost bankrupted the project. Now years later we see the value.
Self-sustainable cities are the future of humanity and The Line is projected to be the first. They have to bring only 10 to 15% profit back to their investors to be successful.
I am surprised by the inability of BBC to highlight the broad daylight modern day slavery happening in Aramco projects.
Many companies do not even provide 1 year leave which is mandatory there. The authorities are sleeping peacefully.
(13:47) If the project was initially supposed to cost $500 billion and the final cost is estimated at $2000 trillion, it will not be 4 times more expensive but 4000 times more.
As Jamal Khashoggi said in March 2018 on Al Jazeera English, the Neom project could lead to the bankruptcy of Saudi Arabia if things did not go as planned. Maybe that's also why he was dismembered six months later.
This project is a folly and meantime, construction companies and other contractors will make a lot of money.
“Temper your expectations.”
If it actually is launched in 2030, all the maintenance costs will be skyrocketed. The 90%* will just fall apart.
Palestinians in Gaza are suffering. So many innocent people died. Nothing left and now this worrying about on how Saudi Arabia will complete the futuristic line city of Neom and all the nonsense 2030 vision. Fuck that.
Can you help, restore and rebuild Gaza. Help the remaining people and children left in Gaza!!!! Food, water, shelter. ❤
The English and the West think they are the world's guardians. They ignore the Gaza war and the genocide and criticise the NEOM project. This is Western hypocrisy
KSA and Israel have aligned interests, and the KSA does not even love its own people, let alone some poor basterds that are only arab enough if it suits them...
Palestine were & still problem made by UK & US, also it's their money spending on this project to improve their country.
So ignorant to say the least
Do you know how much Saudi Arabia financially supported the Palestinians through out the years ?
Saudi Arabia spent over 100 billion USD since the 90s on Palestine ! This is not counting the money Saudi is spending in Palestine through UN relief efforts !
We never had diplomatic relations with Israeli because We have never abandoned the right for Palestinian statehood!
What do you want us to do stop trying to improve our country?! That's counterproductive and makes no sense !
Stop repeating lies go do your own research and you will see .
God bless
You also make it seem like we are refusing to send aid or something 🫨
Go shout in the comment section in videos of Israelis stopping relief trucks with food and supplies
There are also many poor people in Saudi Arabia who need help. Such a waste.
Work will set them free.
Reminds me of the Jeremy Bentham prison concept of prisoners being visible at all times. Also, proper journalists on RUclips! Who would have thunk it.❤
Of all the cities in the world, is there even ONE that naturally formed into a straight line? 😂😂😂
A fool and his money are easily parted 🤣🤣🤣
They can invest in the basics for their people. Public sanitation. Sewers. Water. Roads. Lighting. Basic welfare stipends. Education. Health. And then pro-private sector economic liberalisation. But no. Crazy vanity projects that don't make any economic or social sense.
What are you talking about
We have an extremely good and free healthcare system with the best infrastructure and public roads sewers and what not !
Lightning you say 🤣 , obviously you have never been to Saudi.
When on the airplane at night if you see the saudi city it will look like one extreme light
To an extent some people complain they cant grow tomatoes in their garden because its always day time
Saudi is one of the most generous welfare states to its people XD
This project is 100 times more realistic and doable than "Colony on Mars by 2025.
😂😂😂 true
If it’s critical that Neom is a success, then it better change the entire project to be based in reality. The current state of this will never be built, it’s utter sci-fi fantasy, and no rich people will want to invest in it to actually live there.
Merlyn of the BBC has also abandoned the plural form of 'to be'. So she says ,''there's movies'. Somebody tell me why this happened.
What is the plural form of "to be"?
@@ma356289"There is movies" vs "There are movies"
@@ma356289there are
English is changing, as it has in the 20th century, 19th century, 18th century, 17th century, 16th century, 15th century, 14th century, 13th century etc
Very positive if BBC portrait otherwise.
In the end, these "city" concepts are all real estate plays. So can you bring buyers and tenants in enough time to cover cost overlays beyond what the country is willing to cover? That's all you need to know. To help achieve this the country needs to attract foreign investment, population growth, and attain some semblance of trust as a safe harbor for Third World money.
use Aramco as collateral for NEOM?
Although money can buy almost anything, for this project to come true....Saudis must be Committed. It's a hard choice.
Saudi can build buildings and materialised things but still centuries behind in terms of attitudes respect for human rights for women, free speech and religious freedom
Focus on entrepreneurship. Let the entrepreneurs drive development.
Sameer are you working fir MBS????
Although you guys are dismissing this project, most people in my world know that, after the wars in Ukraine and Gaza are over, or at least stalemated, because mass migration caused by global warming, massive or giga cities will be required. Noam may just be a massive speculation at the moment but, in a way, the Saudi government is correct
I hope that this world salad is halal.
I am sick and tired of MBS and his BS antics.
They can not get this done in the time stated. They have to provide the water resources and the electricity grids and the importation of food, chemicals for health and other requirements, interior requirements and all other goods and services. The fact they are going to use executions to the people who live there if they do not move they are also going to gain world wide notoriety for their actions.
They should build Neom city in Gaza instead if they were wise and competent
It seems like they are globally leading the way in advance for the future going green. No wonder there’s negativity from others because their countries will be left behind in the shadows gasping in awe
This isn't even smart enough to be called a boondoggle
I actually am/was thinking seriously about expanding my (green) biotech startup company to saudi arabia but honestly the legal situation what is allowed and what is not allowed is so complex and confusing I dropped my plans, and even saying this openly here gives me this weird feeling I would be critical of saudi arabia (which I am not, its a business decision), not sure whether this will have negative consequences, and thats exactly the problem, it makes me feel uncomfortable
THANK YOU for reporting this! Keep it up. This is important! There is nowhere on earth that is “a blank canvas”! Environmental impact? Animals? People?
God bless the Saudi Kingdom
These projects are a laughing stock because these projects are terrible for the environment. Think of all the power needed to have a ski resort in a dessert. Artificial moon isn’t possible we don’t have magic gravity technology. With have artificial gravity (maybe) but that can only been done in space.
Ever since cities and villages existed, they have been roughly round. It simply makes getting from one spot to another a shorter distance. With enough money, you can defy geometry, but why should you try?
I might become a great project if they start handing out Neom citizenships. 0% income tax, like UAE.
WHERE is Britain Million Tree Project?
Stop criticizing while you are doing NOTHING.
Lol BBC starting the propaganda machine because of MBS new alliance with the East 😂😂😂..... Oh dear
What propaganda? If they actually want to criticize this BS, they could start with “this is actually BS”, not with “can they make this?”
@@phoenix5054agree. This is a balanced review.
@@phoenix5054
They are good at it thats why unlike the Americans whom are obviously biased and racist.
But don't be fooled they want to see failure of Arabia
neom is kinda good idea rather than sprawling things that we have now, but land buying things had to be as fair as possible
Neom has a lot issues, from bad HR supporting Saudi’s only changing terms and conditions every hour. Living and working there is disgusting even their own employees don’t have consistent accomodation. Neom recruitment takes a year to 16 months you will get ur contract upon arriving to the country. It is land of future, which has cancer already
The project is audacious. Seems more like a 50 year project.
They are making history!
Like Elon musk doing in space x and hyper loop projects.
And the walls came crashing down. Won’t humans learn from history that these types of structures will collapse especially if they impact the environment! Duh to the most wealthiest engineer that thinks he can outsmart natures laws.
very nice information
Also they way Saudi Arabia needs to get out of its oil dependence is almost impossible or very challenging because of the Dutch disease effect. The only way to get out of it is to free up the market and allow more freedom for people. Saudi Arabia has a good location for trade thanks to the global trade going pass Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia should focus on its current cities and improve productivity and infrastructure+ zoning areas are a good idea. Unfortunately Saudi Arabia isn’t doing that so future looks bleak just like Russia or Nigeria.
But Saudi IS doing that! Vision 2030?! Women driving? Cinemas open? Malls now allowed for solo males? Opening to AL-Ula after a forever ban? Alcohol now for sale in diplomatic quarters?
The population is young, all educated (often in the west), things are bound to change!
Will cost a fortune in electricity keeping the place cool….
Whhhhyyyyy? Why was this ever a thing? Spend that money on improving your current cities to new heights? Literally anything else? Why?
the government is already spending on improving cities. come visit the country and see by yourself
@@tariqalmhdawe426 to the tune of $1tr?
Hundreds of years of being duped by British consultants….
So, to summarise;
It’s either a case of the Emperor has no clothes, and the advisers are fluffing each other.
Or..
It will revolutionise our concept of culture and society.
Neom is a fantastic project
All this will be done in a country which does not have the manufacturing, precision engineering or even Saudi construction workers. They also have uninspired, backward community. So they will get some great foreigners to live and spend there?
Environmetally? Migratory birds, massive reflection off the mirrored exterior walls, will this not add to global warming? Desert will be totally uninhabitable. Nowhere on internet could I find the Environmental Impact Assessment. A very ambitious project.
Oh ya they invested billions in sports, holding tournaments at Trump's golf courses comes to mind.....ha ha ha ha. The Felony Tour
the solar desalination plant contract apparently already cancelled, a lot here based on a lot of non-existing tech
It sounds grotesque, I wouldn't go if they offered money. Any place I have visited with desalinated water needed huge amounts of bottled water for drinking etc. Can you imagine the many possible problems; air conditioning & lifts breaking down, problems at the desalination station, keeping pets - two rows of skyscrapers in a line, a very expensive psychologically unhealthy hell.