The 2030 Vision was announced by Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman (MBS) in 2017 with the goal of developing and diversifying the Kingdom’s economy. However, as time went on, it became apparent that the vision was doomed to fail because it lacked a clear plan, no approved economic action, and expert supervision.
The NEOM project, one of MBS’s Vision 2030 initiatives, is being established by the Crown Prince in collaboration with EDF, a French electricity provider, with the goal of constructing a hydroelectric station for the city of NEOM.
French Electricity Company employees, however, criticised the project for being established in the desert far from any construction and without any future vision.
In addition, they conveyed their concerns and disapproval of their company’s involvement in starting this project given the political, social, and legal transgressions Saudi Arabia was notorious for under MBS’ rule.
According to Jean-Yves Segura, the employee representative at EDF Hydro, the Kingdom, like every other nation in the world, has the right to begin the process of decarbonization, and we are working on it domestically. However, from a humanitarian standpoint, we find working on the NEOM project to be unsettling because we recognize that it is an imaginary Pharaonic project that will not benefit Saudi citizens. What is the advantage of having an opulent vacation resort in the middle of a desolate desert? He wondered.
The French engineer went on to say he thinks it was kind of madness that people were working on these kinds of projects, but “it is unreasonable that we would come here to play golf and play winter games on the sands of the desert with satellite lighting.”
“In France, we demand that the government avoid chaos and act rationally, following realistic plans. Is it realistic that, as its founder imagines, we will work in a city where cars fly?”
We sent our administration an ethical alert in 2022, but regrettably, Jean-Yves continued, the administration did not take it seriously.
We notified management of our decision not to proceed with this project once more last November.
It is noteworthy that 860 employees of the EDF company, which was in charge of designing the aforementioned power plant, participated in a survey that was carried out by the FO union. Of the workers, 73% declared that they wanted the company to stop working on the project, while only 17% thought the company should keep going.
According to the study, 78% of participants felt that the NEOM city project went against the French Electricity Company’s moral and ethical obligations. “We do not want our company to be involved in legal disputes involving the environment or human rights in the future.”
