Nadmi Al Nasr (far left) with King Salman at a government event in March 2018.
The Saudi Arabian government has removed Nadmi Al-Nasr, CEO of the NEOM project. NEOM is a project to build a new city in a desolate desert. However, no reason has been given for Ndmi's resignation.
Nadami was on this post since 2018. Now Aiman Al-Mudaifar has been given the responsibility of acting CEO in his place.
According to media reports, doubts about the success of NEOM had started increasing. The government is disappointed with the project not being completed on time and rising costs. Apprehensions are also being raised on social media that this project will not be successful as claimed.
NEOM is the dream project of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Saudi is spending Rs 40 lakh crore on this. This project is part of Saudi Vision 2030. Through this, Saudi Arabia wants to reduce its dependence on oil.
British channel ITV has claimed that more than 21 thousand migrants have died in the last 8 years while building 'The Line' city of the NEOM project. Most of the migrant laborers are from India, Pakistan and Nepal.
This photo is taken from a promotional video of NEOM. It was released in April 2024.
More than 1 lakh people went missing, Saudi government called the allegations baseless According to the report, more than 8 people are dying every day while working on this project. Among those killed are 14 thousand laborers from India, 5 thousand laborers from Bangladesh and 2 thousand laborers from Nepal. Not only this, more than one lakh people have also gone missing while working on this project.
It has been told in this documentary that about 1.5 lakh people are working on this project. These migrant laborers are being forced to work for 16 hours. They are being kept in very bad conditions. Because of this they are falling ill and dying.
According to the documentary, a Nepali worker named Raju Bishwakarma called his friends and family in Nepal to ask for help. He had said that he would be allowed to leave only if he paid five months' salary. He was found dead shortly afterwards.
Newsweek quoted Nepal's Foreign Employment Board as saying that many Nepali people have died in The Line project. There are 650 people whose cause of death is not clear.
The Saudi government has denied these allegations and called them false. In a statement, the Saudi government said that the death toll per 1 lakh workers is 1.12. This is extremely low.
Saudi spent Rs 40 lakh crore on NEOM project Under the project, a city named 'The Line' will be established. It will be a car-free city, just 200 meters wide and 170 km long. According to BBC, however, only 2.4 km portion of this project will be completed by the year 2030.
Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman wanted to build this project under Vision 2030. However, now this project will be completed in different phases.
Graphics Source: NavJivanIndia | VaskarAssets
