Exaggerated, weird, unreal… There are many qualifiers spilled over. Neom futuristic city mega project in Saudi Arabia. Not for the less. Contains a city Line built in a straight line for 170 kilometers A desert full of glow-in-the-dark beaches, millions of trees planted on inhospitable sand, a fake moon, or trains hovering in the air. But now another extravagance has been added, which is already a fact: Saudi Arabia has been selected to host the 2029 Asian Winter Games, where it will build a mega ski slope.
Neom, a sci-fi city already under construction that would make other previous experiences like Dubai look ridiculous, is an idea supported by Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman. It is a region where temperatures close to 40ºC are not uncommon and there is no access to drinking water. Its final size will be 26,500 square kilometers and will be almost the same as Belgium.
60 square kilometers ski resort
But none of this means that there is not only a city of millions of inhabitants, but also a 60 square kilometers ski complex to be launched in 2026 as part of the city of Neom. To get an idea of the scale of the initiative, this ski complex called Trojena will feature airports, an industrial centre, 2,200 residences, 3,600-room tourist hotels and even transgenic products.
Neom and Trojena are being built in the Red Sea, just 50 kilometers off the coast of the Gulf of Aqaba. The location of the ski center that will host the 2029 Asian Winter Games has been announced. In a mountainous area with altitudes of up to 2,600 meters. Although this region is located in a country that is heavily deserted, skiing is warranted as there is often snow in winter around the 2,580-metre-high Gebel al Lawz Mountain. However, hosting the Asian Winter Games will require large amounts of artificial snow to be brought in, requiring large quantities of water from the Red Sea to be brought in and then desalinated.
Despite this, promoters and the Saudi government have banned the initiative as a example of sustainability Well, they say Neom will be the first city with zero emissions due to emission-free transportation systems.
Once the works are completed, Trojena will have 30 kilometers of pistes for skiing from December to March. In addition, an artificial lake with a length of about 1 kilometer will be built in the valley, where all kinds of water activities can be done in summer. Next to it will rise a complete entertainment and tourism city.
The environmental impact of all these actions is beyond doubt, as in Dubai and other residential areas built in the middle of the desert, Huge amounts of CO2 need to be released just to desalinate the water that its inhabitants and their recreation industry must consume. The Saudi government claims that the electricity needed to produce this desalinated water will come from solar panels, but experts remember that this system has never worked properly in facilities of this size. The salt water produced in this process can also cause serious damage to the seafloor.
Bedouin tribes were forcibly evicted
Although work on Neom began a few years ago, experts doubt the project will be completed as planned or even within the announced deadlines. In fact, the photos collected by various internet portals show that the current status of the studies is quite late.
In addition to the environmental impact, there are also complaints about social abuses committed during the construction of this pharaonic city. Members of the ancient Huwaitat nomadic and Bedouin tribe inhabit the lands chosen to create Neom and Trojena.
Human rights activists claim that two villages were evacuated and 20,000 members of the Huwaitat community were forcibly evicted and without adequate compensation, according to the BBC. A man who refused to be evicted and started posting videos on the internet about everything that happened also died.
Link to Neom website: https://www.neom.com/en-us
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Contact address of the environment department: [email protected]