A report has claimed that migrant camps built to house construction workers building Saudi Arabia’s $1trillion NEOM megacity are ‘plagued by gang rape, attempted murder and suicides’.
More than 100,000 workers, mainly from countries such as Pakistan and Bangladesh, live in the nightmarish camps where crime and drug use allegedly run rife.
The shocking report, seen by the Wall Street Journal, has revealed employees smuggled booze into the camp despite Saudi Arabia being a dry country and also fought in mass brawls with security guards.
In one harrowing case, one worker is said to have slashed his wrists after complaining he was not being paid.
There have also been multiple deaths on the site, with one British company saying they could find ‘no evidence’ of any safety procedures in the multi-billion -dollar project.
NEOM has been a favoured programme of the Crown-Prince Mohammed bin Salman since it was launched in 2017 and forms part of the Saudi Project 2030 – the petrostate’s plan to open up its economy and move away from a dependency on fossil fuels.
Once completed, the sprawling city is intended to cover more than 263,000 hectares while housing millions of people.
At the centre of the scheme is The Line – a 110-mile-long building which more than 9million people would call home.
NEOM has been the pet-project of the Crown-Prince Mohammed bin Salman (pictured) since it was launched in 2017
At the centre of the project is The Line (pictured) a huge 110 mile long building which over 9million people would call home
An artist impression of what NEOM will look like once completed. A report has claimed that migrant camps built to house construction workers from the project have been ‘plagued by gang rape, attempted murder and suicides’
The ambitious plan has been plagued by organisational failure and unattainable targets with the company recently admitting The Line will not be complete for 50 years.
This November the the CEO of NEOM, Nadhmi Al-Nasr was sacked after threatening to bury a worker in the desert.
On top of this 21,000 workers have died in the last eight years and now records taken by the onsite medical clinic have revealed horrifying stories from inside the migrant camps.
In 2023, a violent uprising was launched in protest of the quality of food being served with labourers launching utensils and serving trays at the chefs.
That same year, a worker was treated for a drug overdose and staff discovered a dealer was selling meth in the camp.
In the worst recording incidents, there were cases of gang rape, suicides and even murder – but no further details are known about these claims.
Meanwhile, The Sun reported that the British government-servicing company, Serco, delivered a damning assessment of the safety standards in 2022 where it claimed there was ‘no evidence of a single cohesive strategic emergency plan covering the whole of NEOM.’
In 2023 workers died in a variety of deadly accidents this includes one man who was killed whilst handling explosives and another who was crushed when a tanker reversed into him.
An artist’s impression of what the inside of The Line might look like. The ambitious plan has been plagued by organisational failure and unattainable targets with the company recently admitting The Line will not be complete for 50 years
An artist’s impression of what The Line will look like. While working on the construction site 21,000 workers have died in the last eight years
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. NEOM forms part of the Saudi Project 2030 – the petrostates plan to open up its economy and move away from its dependency on fossil fuels
NEOM has reportedly worked to improve safety standards, but one employee described the workplace as ‘the wild west.’
A NEOM spokesperson said: ‘Protecting the welfare of those working on-site is a top priority.’
They added that contractors have to comply with Neom’s welfare standards, and that Neom investigates inappropriate workplace behaviour as well as allegations of wrongdoing or misconduct.
Earlier this month it was confirmed that Saudi Arabia will host the FIFA World Cup in 2034.
It unveiled over a dozen ambitious construction projects to build or upgrade an array of futuristic stadiums for the tournament.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
