Gulf citizens powerless in face of megaprojects
Local communities in Saudi Arabia often have no say in the strategic infrastructure projects and long-term economic reforms that directly impact them.
Abdul Rahim al-Huwaiti was killed in a shootout with Saudi security forces in April after refusing to vacate his home. He had been active in opposing evictions for a futuristic megacity called NEOM that is planned to be built on the Red Sea coast, the land of al-Huwaiti’s community. He posted videos on social media about his efforts to block officials from coming into his home to evict him and ended up documenting his own shooting.
“You have no one there,” Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said in a 2017 interview about his vision, though 20,000 people are expected to be forcibly relocated to make room for what's being promoted as a global hub for trade and innovation that will attract residents from all over the world.
The Saudi government's National Program for Community Development in the Regions did not respond to a request for comment. In May, the Saudi Press Agency reported that the program had begun “disbursing financial compensation” to property owners impacted by NEOM.
Mahmood Al-Wahaibi is an urban planning expert affiliated with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a visiting expert at the Oman National Spatial Strategy, a government project to promote long-term development at the national and regional levels. He told Al-Monitor, “MBS did not let the idea of changing Saudi Arabia be discussed among the people,” using the crown prince's common acronym.
