Col Rabih Alenezi says he was ordered to evict villagers from a tribe in the Gulf state to make way for The Line, part of the Neom eco-project.

One of them was subsequently shot and killed for protesting against eviction.

The Saudi government and Neom management refused to comment.

Neom, Saudi Arabia’s $500bn (£399bn) eco-region, is part of its Saudi Vision 2030 strategy which aims to diversify the kingdom’s economy away from oil.

Its flagship project, The Line, has been pitched as a car-free city, just 200m (656ft) wide and 170km (106 miles) long - though only 2.4km of the project is reportedly expected to be completed by 2030.

    • retrospectology@lemmy.worldEnglish
      4·
      2 months ago

      You’re saying creating a 100 mile long barrier with a mirrored surface that cooks everything around it and prevents wild life from reaching the sea isn’t creating an eco-region?

  • zephyreks@lemmy.mlEnglish
    3·
    2 months ago

    At least Saudi Arabia is doing something to guard against the imminent collapse of their oil economy… So that’s good, I guess.

    Not sure Neom is the project I would have funded to do so, but I imagine the Saudis are getting desperate.

  • tabris@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    2 months ago

    This is such a stupid project. You could fit the same size city in 6km x 6km and it’d be bigger than what they have planned. Much cheaper and easier as well, and no reason to kill anyone… Oh wait, I see the incentive.

    • SlopppyEngineer@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      2 months ago

      Nobody would talk about it if it was a standard square city. Masdar city is a square design of 6km² for example, also trying to be a hub of future technologies, and most people will go “mass what city?” The Line attracts attention, and with attention often comes money. At least they have the first part right, the second part isn’t working out as they hoped it would.

      • CosmoNova@lemmy.worldEnglish
        3·
        2 months ago

        Who cares if people talk about it when it‘s doomed to either become an unlivable hellscape or more likely never see completion because it‘s utterly infeasible? They destroy a huge area, waste billions and worst of all throw many lives into a meat grinder just to get some clout by the dumbest idiots on the planet. In the end of the day more people will dislike and look down on them for this moronic project that many knew would never work.

    • HubertManne@kbin.social
      0·
      2 months ago

      I agree its stupid but the original idea was larger and had a transit system going down it. I think that was the concept. To sorta maximize transit as you did not need to branch it off to go to various places.

      • ditty@lemm.eeEnglish
        1·
        2 months ago

        Whatever they end up building will still be harder to navigate than traditional city layouts. An example one lemmy user mentioned in a previous post is how unfortunate it’d be if you lived at one end and worked at the other.

  • YeetPics@mander.xyzEnglish
    1·
    2 months ago

    How long before tankies start protesting the Saudi colonialism?

    Oh, they won’t? Okay.

    • theareciboincident@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      2·
      2 months ago

      They do, every year, at career fairs across the nations schools. It’s called divesting from the military industrial complex.

      You just pretend not to see it.

      This issue is brought up literally every time the Saudis are mentioned. However, your take is a fresh and interesting one that makes absolutely zero sense.

      What are you doing?

      Oh that’s right, nothing. Okay.

      It’s not even a fucking meme in the tankiest Putin apologist communities to support Saudi Arabia.

      Seriously where are you even getting this from?

      • Liz@midwest.socialEnglish
        11·
        2 months ago

        Both tankies and liberals would object to being conflated with each other.

        • Linkerbaan@lemmy.worldEnglish
          11·
          2 months ago

          Explain the difference between a liberal and a tankie.

          hint; they’re the same.

  • SrTobi@feddit.deEnglish
    0·
    2 months ago

    Wait? I thought they had killed the project or at least significantly reduced it in scope? Why still kill for it then?

    • Stamau123@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      2 months ago

      This was when the stupid plan was both big and stupid, now it’s puny and stupid.

      Those people are still dead tho