Neom Executive Complains About Worker Deaths Disrupting His Sunday Evening

Neom, the world’s largest construction project aimed at transforming Saudi Arabia into a tourism powerhouse, has faced some controversy. According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, a top executive at Neom expressed frustration about being compelled to attend a meeting on Sunday evening. This incident followed the tragic death of three workers at the construction site of the same project.

As per the report, Neom executives were summoned to the office for an emergency meeting on a Sunday evening during the crisis. However, a top executive in Neom named Wayne Borg reportedly made racist comments about Neom’s workforce. He described Neom’s blue-collar workers from the Indian subcontinent as “f—ing morons” and added, “That is why white people are at the top of the pecking order.”

If the reports are to be believed, Borg, who was also a former Fox Corp executive, said, “A whole bunch of people die so we’ve got to have a meeting on a Sunday night.” Later, the 59-year-old Australian executive reiterated the comments about the deaths of the workers and mentioned, “You can’t train for stupidity. The white blokes are at the top of the tree.”

The newspaper also reported that the three workers were killed due to a falling pipe, a collapsing wall and mishandled explosives. Neom officials said that it has a zero-tolerance policy towards inappropriate workplace behaviour.

In contrast, Neom has previously faced accusations of human rights abuses. An ex-Saudi intelligence officer told BBC that authorities had been permitted to use lethal force to clear land for the megaproject. The CEO of a clean energy company told Business Insider why he withdrew from the $100 million (Rs 839 crore) contract. He mentioned taking the decision after he realised that the Saudis were displacing communities and demolishing traditional villages to clear land for Neom’s construction.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced the mega-city project Neom in Saudi Arabia in 2017. Marketed as a global tourism destination, this Belgium-sized project has a huge budget worth $500 billion (Approx Rs 4,000 crore) and $1.5 trillion. It includes plans for luxury resorts, futuristic entertainment facilities and wellness centres.

However, reports about shocking allegations against the top Neom executives repeatedly made their way to the headlines. Earlier, workers at the world’s biggest construction project were rife with the “inhuman behaviour” of the executives. As per another report by the Wall Street Journal, Neom CEO Nadhmi Al-Nasr, who was handpicked by Prince Mohammed to lead the project, was levied with many such accusations. The report claimed that the NEOM CEO used to frequently belittle and berates his junior. “I drive everybody like a slave. When they drop down dead, I celebrate. That’s how I do my projects,” according to a recording heard by the Wall Street Journal, Nadhmi Al-Nasr said in a meeting.