Since October 2017, the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman unleashed the dreams of the Saudis when he promised them the "Project of the Century", the technical and entertainment city of Neum, but after about 3 years, the Saudis gained nothing but the destruction of their homes and the construction of royal palaces instead of them in the "dream city" .
Pictures obtained by Al Jazeera confirm that the NEOM project is proceeding with a faltering pace, with the exception of the huge royal palaces that were built on an area of two million and 350 thousand square meters, and in the vicinity of 24 buildings for guards and workers. Heliports.
Bin Salman announced that the NEOM project will consist of 12 modern cities with international standards that rely on advanced technologies in the context of reforms aimed at creating jobs and encouraging foreign investment and providing more freedoms for the Saudis, as it costs $ 500 billion.
At a time when it is necessary to start any project working on the infrastructure and give priority to the public interests of the people, the pictures show that none of the Lumen infrastructure projects were not completed except for the royal palaces that were built on the rubble of buildings that were present until the end of 2017, in conjunction with the start of the construction of those palaces That work began in 2017 and ended in February 2020.
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The project passes in two phases, which include 8 villages in Tabuk along the Red Sea coast, and the first stage includes the villages of Sharma, Khraibah, Asilah and Qayyal, while the second stage includes the villages of Muwailih, Al-Sura, Al-Bada and Maqana.
In Sharma village, which is the most affected by the project, the construction of a resort and hotel started in March 2018 south of the village and the construction process has not yet been completed, while huge royal palaces and a small airport were built, and the palaces mediate a huge royal palace with an area of 31 thousand square meters.
In the summer of 2019, King Salman and a large delegation of escorts, princes, and advisors at the royal court went to spend "some time for rest and recuperation," according to the official Saudi Press Agency at the time.
Sources had told Reuters in February 2018 that the government asked local companies to build five palaces for the king, the crown prince, and other senior members of the royal family on the Red Sea coast, about 150 kilometers west of the city of Tabuk, and those projects are among the first contracts that Anchored to NEOM.
The agency stated that the construction of at least some of these palaces had been completed within months at an undisclosed cost.
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On the other hand, the Saudi government seized lands and villages after its residents were forced to hand them over, and the pictures show that about 4000 housing units will be destined to disappear within eight villages. The dream project for the Saudi crown prince will destroy its ruins, and will also destroy large agricultural areas along the NEOM project that extends over The Red Sea coast has a length of 300 kilometers and a total area of 26.5 thousand square kilometers.
Contrary to the promises made by the Saudi Crown Prince to make Rivera the first ready city of Neum in 2020 and for the rest of the cities to be completed in the next five years, the images show that these cities are still ink on paper, and no list has yet been established on land Reality.
The villagers will lose their livelihoods from fishing and agriculture after losing their homes and homes, and the tourist effects of those areas will be destroyed.
Members of the al-Huwaytat tribe - whose lands lie within the boundaries of the NEOM project - objected to the authorities ’plan to deport them from the lands of their ancestors, rejecting the authorities’ alternative housing and financial compensation.
Alia Abu Tayeh Al-Huwaiti - a member of the tribe and a political activist based in London - says that the tribe sees in Neum a project that will be built on its blood and bones.
Alia said in an interview with the British newspaper, Gadrian, that the project will certainly not be for the benefit of members of the tribe who live there, but rather for tourists and the wealthy.
The killing of Abd al-Rahim al-Hwaiti on April 13, when the security forces shot him, after he refused to deport his home, was a milestone on the tension between the al-Huwaytat tribe and the Riyadh authorities and its plans to establish the NEOM project.