The overly ambitious dream of the prince Mohammed bin Salman, now the heir to the throne of Saudi Arabia, is one of those automated cities that seem to have come out of the realm of science fiction.
With an astronomical budget of $ 500 billion, the high-tech city of Neom, which has a time horizon of 2030, currently includes violent displacement of the indigenous population and vague promises of compensation.
But it also includes blood, the death of an activist who spoke out against the prince's vision, recalling in the most tragic way exactly how the Arab kingdom reacts to dissent. See Kasogi case that is.
A few days after Saudi special forces ousted Abdulrahim al-Huwaiti on April 13, the government (the state news agency) issued a statement characterizing him explicitly "wanted". Soon the term would change to "terrorist". This is what the country's officials now called him.
Hours before his death, al-Huwaiti uploaded a video to YouTube that predicted the deadly events that would follow.
He spoke of a "trap" that would be set for him, as they had long wanted to punish him for protesting the violent expulsion of the local Huwaitat tribe from their homeland to build the glorious Neom.
His murder activist and a member of the local tribe even came after months of tension in the area.
Some 20.000 people will have to leave their place of residence for hundreds of years in the northwestern province of Tabuk to make room for Neom.
And most do not like it…
It was 2017 when the dolphin of the Saudi throne, Prince Mohammed bin Salman, announced his vision for an unprecedented $ 500 billion technological paradise.
2017 was the key year for him, as he managed to oust the rightful heir to the throne, his uncle Mohammed bin Nayef, and to succeed him. Bin Salman has been nicknamed "Little Saddam", as he has a clear problem with criticism and disagreement and does not always react well.
By the time he declares himself a reformer and a modernist, he has led dozens of people to the gallows. And so many other princes in prison. He is also charged with serious human rights violations, as well as his involvement in his murder. Jamal Kasogi at the consulate of Saudi Arabia in Istanbul.
In doing so, Mohammed bin Salman is openly pushing for a diversified economy, seeking to free Saudi Arabia from oil dependence. And so he thought of Neom.
A dream city 33 times the size of New York, where it will be flooded with scientists, technology startups, wealthy investors, but also high-income tourists.
The brutal tech city of 26.500 square kilometers on the shores of the Red Sea is the crown jewel of the Princely Vision 2030, the economic plan that will free Saudi Arabia from its complete dependence on the oil cannula.
Turning it at the same time into a technological paradise, a cut that will immediately change the economic and social face of the country…
The big desert city will be something the planet has never seen before. Saudi officials promise more robot from humans, flying cars, and even dinosaurs. Not real, but robots too.
The mode of transportation here will be autonomous air taxi, as the roads will be for people, and the city will also have a huge seaside resort for wealthy tourists. As they describe it, it is "the most ambitious plan in the world".
The Neom will be built on the shores of the Red Sea, in the northwestern province of Tabuk, and will consist of 16 economic zones. Bin Salman himself told Bloomberg in October 2018 that Neom will be completed by 2025, as the first phase is nearing completion in 2020.
As he had stated, a good part of this giant has been completed investment of the $ 500 billion needed to build it. The prince said that he has secured the required investment funds, although he will put most of them.
Blueprints secured at that time The Wall Street Journal showed amazing things like artificial rain, hologram teachers, and even a big fake moon to illuminate Neom in the dark. As for its name, it comes from the Greek word "neos" (neos) and the Arabic mustaqbal, which means "future".
In January 2019, Saudi Arabia set up a company, which it also named Neom, to become the driving force behind the program. And of course to show her critics that she means it seriously. And since he means it, he hired three of the world's largest consulting firms (McKinsey & Co, Boston Consulting and Oliver Wyman) as project consultants.
Neom will employ new technologies to create artificial clouds, so that it has much more rainfall than naturally occurs in the desert. And it will have the "top education system in the world", with the lessons being taught by hologram teachers.
A park with dinosaurs like the one will be built on one of the islands Jurassic Park , further magnetizing global tourism. And at night the city will be lit by a huge artificial moon.
And people will travel exclusively by flying taxis. This is because, as its creators want it, people in the future will drive nothing but hobbies. At Neom you will be able to pick up your Ferrari and fly to the beach, but you will not need to drive to get to work.
The Neom resident will also have more and better amenities at his disposal than anywhere else on the planet. The city will have even more Michelin stars per inhabitant in its restaurants.
The shores of the Red Sea will shine at night, as the sand will reflect the light of the artificial moon. We are talking about such situations.
But what about its construction? Because for the time being nothing has been presented. However, the construction activity is said to have started in Neom Bay, which is the first phase of the over-ambitious plan.
This is at least confirmed by the state agency Saudi Press Agency, telling us that there will be the main urban fabric, with "white beaches, mild climate and an attractive investment environment". And this phase was scheduled to be completed by 2020.
In September last year, the news was released that the Neom airport was short of completion. Her government Saudi Arabia It is said to have hosted several events in the area, attracting investors from all over the world.
In October 2019 they said they intend to make Neom and the largest e-gaming paradise in the universe.
From the official Neom website We are informed that the work has actually started, but the construction "will start as soon as the research and planning phase that is currently evolving is specified". On the same website we read that most of the construction "will be completed within the next 7-10 years".
As for its population, "we expect Neom to house 1 million people by 2030"…
At a time when planners are talking to us about mass facial recognition and surveillance systems to completely combat crime, but also about new laws that will prevail in this almost independent state, the local tribe has a somewhat different view.
The Huwaitat obviously do not fit into the cosmopolitan and glamorous paradise and must get out of the way. THE government would supposedly compensate them for their displacement, only things do not seem to be going as well on paper.
The tensions of recent months are a tragic reflection of the authoritarian way in which a totalitarian regime operates. The Huwaitat have been protesting for months, forcing them to leave their traditional homes. After all, they lived there before the -unified- kingdom of Saudi Arabia was even established in 1932.
The tribal record so far counts dozens of members in prison, some who left the country and recently the first dead. The government never discussed the plan with them, treating them from the outset as unwanted to have to pick them up and leave.
Glamorous cosmopolitans will live there at some point and the Huwaitat are not part of the new design. And so they were not included in the plan of the ruler, nor of his highly paid American advisers who live thousands of miles away.
Worse still, Tabruk municipal authorities, loyal to the National Community Development Program, began issuing orders in early January. expropriation property. With no compensation, except with a vague and verbal promise of some money. Without specifying the exact amount. Or time horizon.
The local population states that there is not even a court solution for their drama, as there is no legal way to examine their objections to the development program. Things like uprooting and compensating them will go into "fine".
The vast majority of the tribe rejects the offers and the undefeated Huwaiti had become its public figure. The face of disagreement with the princely manipulations.
In the videos he uploaded to YouTube he showed every now and then the property titles he had for his land. In his last video on April 12, the day before his death, he insisted that none of them wanted to leave their homeland. They just wanted to be part of the new Neom.
The state announcement does not mention the disagreement. He simply claims that the activist was armed and shot at the security forces, leaving them no choice but to return fire and kill him.
Just as Huwaiti prophesied in the landmark video, the soldiers found a proper yafka in his house. Huwaiti became the "witness of Neom", as he is now called on social media, and everything shows that he will not be the only one.
And while such massive development plans involving the expropriation of property are never easy issues, international law provides basic standards of action for a government to at least respect the rights of the citizens involved.
Saudi Arabia probably does not read international law. And the cauldron continues to boil in the area.
This is probably the real cost of Neom. Exactly like he told the Guardian on May 4 Alia Hayel Aboutiyah al-Huwaiti, a member of the London security tribe, "Neom is built with our blood."
Neom, on the other hand, responds with the catchy slogan "Better people, better society"…