Saudi Arabia is shelling out trillions of dollars to rebrand itself as a global hub of innovation and sustainability, with futuristic "giga-projects" to both strengthen its economy and elevate its global standing.
The kingdom has so far relied on its natural resources for political legitimacy and economic stability. However, climate change and the resulting global pivot toward renewables threatens to jeopardize its fossil fuel-derived state wealth, forcing the country and its leadership to conjure up new means of self-sustainment.
"Saudi Arabia is in dire need to diversify its economy by investing into non-oil sectors such as tourism, entertainment or sports," Sebastian Sons, Senior researcher at the Center for Applied Research in Partnership with the Orient (CARPO), told Newsweek.
Central to this strategy, he said, was investment in large-scale construction projects—or giga-projects—that "raise international attention, promote Saudi Arabia as an attractive hub for economic cooperation with international partners, generate foreign direct investments, and create jobs for Saudi nationals."
This strategic rebrand is being conducted through the framework of Vision 2030, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's ambitious road map to reshape Saudi society and boost the kingdom's global appeal.
Saudi Arabia's giga-projects
The largest giga-project currently under construction is Neom, an urban "economic zone" on the Red Sea coast that it is hoped will cover an area of over 10,000 square miles. The flagship project of Vision 2030, and "one of the Crown Prince's highest priorities" according to Bloomberg, the estimated costs of Neom range from $500 billion to as high as $1.5 trillion.
The most discussed feature of Neom is "The Line," a 110-mile long, 200-meter wide linear city described by its developers as " a revolution in urban living." It will have "no roads, cars or emissions," according to Neom's website, and will eventually accommodate 9 million people. When first announced in 2021, the project's estimated cost was around $100 billion to $200 billion. However, it is likely that these projections have ballooned, as reports have emerged that Saudi Arabia may need to scale back the project.
Other elements of Neom include the floating city Oxagon, the ultramodern waterfront community Norlana, and Utamo, a "theater of the future" located in a mountain along the Gulf of Aqaba coastline.
Beyond Neom, several more ambitious projects have been launched as part of Vision 2030. These include Qiddiya, a $40 billion entertainment-focused city, Dirya, a giga-project filled with luxury hotels costing an estimated $63.2 billion, and the Jeddah Central Project, a $19.9 billion development in the heart of Saudi Arabia's second largest city.
However, despite the luster and promise of these plans, the kingdom appears burdened by its heavy focus on giga-projects, and currently forecasts running at a budgetary deficit over the next few years as it attempts to get these Vision 2030 initiatives off the ground.
Newsweek has reached out to both Neom and the Saudi Foreign Ministry for comments on the projects discussed in this article.
Why is Saudi Arabia Spending So Much on These Projects?
Economic diversification lies at the heart of Saudi Arabia's mission, driven by its leaders' understanding that their oil-derived wealth may soon run dry.
Saudi Arabia can make use of its sizable sovereign wealth fund to finance these projects before benefiting from the resulting tourism and foreign direct investment it hopes they will attract. However, experts argue that this alone may be insufficient to ensure the successful completion of the projects.
"Even with all the billions that Saudi Arabia has, what it needs is foreign investment to make that transformation," James Lynch, founding co-director of human rights-focused think tank FairSquare, told Newsweek. "To get the foreign investment to kind of make this plan happen, you have to change the image. You have to be seen as somewhere where business wants to be and wants to actually put its money."
This relies on creating the narrative that Saudi Arabia is a "forward-thinking country" Lynch argues, a narrative that is strengthened by futuristic projects like Neom.
"With Neom, the Saudi leadership presents itself as a modern, innovative, out-of-the-box thinking decision-maker that aims to transform Neom into a new 'Silicon Valley' and push it as a symbol for a 'new Saudi Arabia' by particularly reaching out to international clients and potential investors," Sons of CARPO said.
Many of these projects have already drummed up significant interest from foreign investors, according to Saudi Arabia, while also receiving substantial financial backing from the country's Public Investment Fund.
"I think foreign investors are starting to come to Neom, they're starting to channel capital," the country's investment minister Khalid al-Falih told Reuters on Monday.
However, experts also said that the giga-projects included within Vision 2030—often dubbed the brainchild of Mohammed Bin Salman—allow the Crown Prince to bring his own vision of Saudi Arabia to fruition, while cementing his place as its de facto ruler.
"Certainly, Vision 2030 serves as an agenda to promote his decisive leadership style, presenting himself as an architect of a transforming kingdom in which such projects play a relevant role," Sons said. "He wants to show his population and the world that Saudi Arabia is changing under his leadership and thus aims to improve his personal image and preserve the loyalty of his people."
"This is part of [Mohammed Bin Salman] stamping his identity on the country," Lynch told Newsweek. He added that large-scale construction projects, which involve extensive contracting opportunities, enable him to maintain the support of the country's ruling class, providing "an efficient way of distributing rent among the elites, [giving] critical groups in society a piece of the benefit of this public wealth."
Projects of this magnitude have another impact, according to Lynch, as they inevitably attract interest and headlines focused on Saudi Arabia's "crazy wild plans."
"It dilutes the strength, arguably, of human rights stories," he said.
Rebranding Saudi Arabia relies on capturing attention for reasons other than the country's poor record on political rights, women's rights and civil liberties.
"I think this is about normalizing Saudi Arabia," Lynch added. "It reduces the political cost that the state pays for its other behavior. Whether that be human rights violations or repression of dissent and so on."
The Human Rights Cost of the Kingdom's Rebrand
However, the projects have only served to intensify scrutiny of the regime's human rights record.
"The Saudi government's trillion dollar mega-projects, in particular the futuristic city of Neom, have so far delivered a great deal of harm to the local communities displaced as a result, and to the migrant workers subject to severe exploitation, but produced little of value or benefit to the Saudi people," Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), told Newsweek.
Last week, human rights organization ALQST released a briefing paper on the "wide range of concerns" regarding the Neom project.
"Already, Neom's development has led to forced evictions and brutal repression of local inhabitants," its authors wrote. "Construction will likely be carried out by hundreds of thousands of migrant workers with few rights and little freedom. Current proposals, if brought to fruition, will create a dystopian urban environment and ecological catastrophe."
Harsh working conditions for those helping to make the Vision 2030 giga-projects a reality have already reportedly led to the deaths of thousands of migrant workers from India, Bangladesh and Nepal, according to recent U.K. TV documentary Kingdom Uncovered: Inside Saudi Arabia.
Days after the documentary aired, Neom announced that Nadhmi al-Nasr, its chief executive, had departed from his role in the project. No official reason was given for his departure.
"Neom is a fundamental pillar of Saudi Vision 2030," a statement on Neom's website reads, "and progress continues on all operations as planned as we deliver the next phase of our vast portfolio of projects."
Newsweek has reached out to Neom and the Saudi Foreign Ministry for a response to the criticisms of Vision 2030 highlighted in the piece.
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