Saudi Arabia has won a bid to host the 2029 Asian Winter Games at a planned mountain resort in the Gulf Arab state’s $500bn (£440bn) flagship Neom project, The Washington Post reported.
The Trojena development is expected to be completed in 2026 and will offer outdoor skiing, a man-made freshwater lake and a nature reserve, according to the project’s website.
While the area is one of the few locations in the desert kingdom that receives snow, it’s unclear whether there would be enough to support winter sports activities on the scale Saudi Arabia envisions. Around 700,000 tourists are predicted to visit each year once the project is completed in 2026.
MBS’ Failed Projects
The Middle East Eye has called into question the feasibility of Neom. The deadline for the city’s completion is set for 2025, but there is little evidence on the ground of building progress having been made.
The project has already been stymied by delays and hit by an exodus of employees, many of them Western consultants, who have complained about Saudi executives’ unreachable demands, according to MEE.
Former employees have said Neom CEO Nadhmi al-Nasr has a short temper and often issues threats to workers.
MEE quoted him as saying that he would “pull out a gun and start shooting if he wasn’t told who was to blame” for two e-sports companies cancelling a partnership with NEOM over human rights concerns, according to two witnesses. Al-Nasr disputed the claims.
Some have also challenged Neom’s status as a carbon-neutral, environmentally friendly futuristic city. The construction of Trojena for example would require “blowing up large portions of the landscape” to build an artificial lake in the centre of the resort, according to Bloomberg.
According to the report, Saudi Arabia is putting sports at the centre of its economic diversification plan. The kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund, controlled by the crown prince, is shaking up the world of professional golf with its own league, drawing in Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson.
Western golfers have come under fire from rights groups for participating in the league given allegations of human rights abuses inside the kingdom.
Human rights concerns raised
Amnesty International declared that it ‘virtually impossible’ to host the 2030 World Cup in Saudi Arabia due to FIFA’s human rights criteria, amid reports of a bid from the country following their hosting of boxing and F1 events.
‘After the purchase of Newcastle, the staging of the Anthony Joshua fights and the hugely controversial LIV golf venture, it feels almost inevitable that Saudi Arabia will also seek to host the 2030 World Cup as a sort of crowning glory to its sport swashing operations,’ Felix Jakens, Amnesty UK’s individuals at risk campaigns manager said in a statement released to the PA news agency.
Despite the high poverty rates in the Kingdom, Saudi Crown prince Mohammed bin Salman continue to spend billions of dollars on sports events in an attempt to whitewash his poor human rights record, especially after journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s murder.
Saudi Arabia was included in the top ten list of countries seen as most corrupt, according to U.S. News’ 2022 rankings.
