Due to its location in an arid desert, the NEOM city project—the largest project in Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s (MBS) Vision 2030 plan—needs a sizable water reserve for its various operational phases.
The $500 billion NEOM city project has been characterized by experts as a shattered illusion and a fantasy in the Saudi Crown Prince’s dreams. MBS has repeatedly pledged to open the project’s first phase, but this has not been accomplished thus far.
Due to the project’s location in a desert, a sizable water reserve is needed. EDF promised to provide this reserve by guaranteeing that the desalinated water would be transported via a sizable pipeline to the project’s closest location, where a water station would be constructed to desalinate the water close to the Red Sea.
The water will be drawn from the Red Sea, desalinated to prevent corrosion in the facilities, and piped to the desert to power the plant, according to the company’s presentation. The company that is building the NEOM project power station, Electricité de France, has approved this plan.
The NEOM city project’s water collection crisis raises ethical concerns because, as some project employees have stated, “we are collecting water for a project that will not benefit citizens or residents.” The Saudi Arabian government’s dream of having NEOM city’s net emissions zero is unrealistic and unachievable.
The construction of the NEOM city project in the Kingdom’s desert, which is made entirely of concrete, steel, and glass, is expected to require a significant amount of energy. One of the French trade unionists employed by the Electricité de France company, which is working on the project, added: “The project will release approximately 1.8 billion tons of carbon dioxide annually.
MBS aims for 9 million people to live in his city, which will inevitably have a very high carbon footprint. The materials used to build the project, like steel and concrete, are extremely carbon-intensive. The NEOM project will have emissions equal to four times the UK’s annual emissions, according to Professor Philip Oldfield, Director of Environmental Research and Architecture at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Sydney.
Professor Laurent Lambert of the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, who specializes in the field of energy transition, stated: “We have a big problem with public transportation and infrastructure in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, especially with regard to wastewater management. Therefore, NEOM will certainly provide housing units, but it will be expensive housing and beyond the reach of most citizens and residents. Therefore, collecting water, desalinating it, and spending money on it is providing water for a project that no one will live in, at least right now.”
