Staff at France's EDF question involvement in futuristic Saudi city

Alison Hird
·1-min read

Some employees of French energy giant EDF want the company to reconsider its involvement in a hydro-electric plant in the Saudi desert that would power Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's futuristic megacity Neom, following concerns over the project's sustainability and alleged human rights abuses.

Neom is being built in the Tabuk region in northeast Saudi Arabia on some 26,000km2 of land, an area the size of Belgium.

It is part of MBS's Vision 2030, which is aimed at diversifying Saudi Arabia's economy and reducing its dependence on oil revenues.

Its most dazzling part of the €500 billion project is The Line, a 170km-long vertical megacity that will house up to nine million people.

Neom will also have a ski resort to host the 2029 Asian Winter Games, a luxury island on the Red Sea and an industrial complex with a floating port.

The Saudis promise the car-free, street-free city will be run entirely on renewable energies resulting in zero carbon emissions.

Some 2,100 megawatts of its electricity will be produced by Nestor, a pumped hydro energy storage project (PHES) that enables the mass storage of excess energy from renewable sources.

They said that while Nestor would provide carbon-free electricity, building Neom will be energy-guzzling.


Read more on RFI English

Read also:
Amnesty urges Macron to pressure Saudi prince over death sentences during Paris visit
Saudi athletes won't be allowed to set up their 'Olympic village' at Les Invalides
Renewables to overtake coal as world's main electricity source by 2025

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