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One of the main climatologists advising the Mega-Project of Saudi Arabia Neom warned that the plans for its new futuristic city could modify the weather conditions and the path of wind and sand storms, in another problem for the flagship program of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman.
The Neom should be delayed or reduced, as part of an examination under an actual manager who recently resumed the $ 500 billion project, while Saudi Arabia struggling with lower oil prices, a drop in foreign investments and the enormous scope of development, the Financial Times reported.
Now Donald WUEBBLES, an expert in atmospheric physics and chemistry who is paid advisor to the Neom, told the FT that he had repeatedly raised the question of how the linear city, the ski areas and the project islands could change their local environments and their meteorological systems.
He said that the Sustainable Development Advisory Committee had been informed at a recent meeting that the question had been degenerated from a “higher priority” since the brutal departure of the former managing director of Neom, Nadhmi al-Nasr. The committee reported to Al-Nasr, a person close to Neom said.
“Some of my concern was what impact is the line and these (projects) were going to have on the local environment …
The harmful effects could include changes in rain models, wind amplification and storms in the desert area, which have “not been sufficiently studied,” he said.
The vast construction project includes plans for a city of skyscraper of narrow buildings up to 500 meters high, locked up in a mirror glass facade initially designed to operate along 170 km.
The form of cities and their generally higher temperatures can change surrounding air currents and cloud training, has shown research. Academics of institutions such as Princeton observed In an article from last year, summer storms are generally intensifying in urban areas.
A second member of the Neom Advisory Committee who asked not to be appointed confirmed some of the concerns that WUEBBLES has raised.
The other problems raised included emissions from the use of cement by Neom and a slow transition far from vehicles and combustion engines, said Wuebbles. Neom had in charge of academics to examine his concerns, but their conclusions had not been shared with him, he said.
Neom said it was a responsible development company and sustainability had remained an essential priority. Its objective was to reduce the environmental impact of its projects “in relation to traditional construction projects”, including in the use of building materials.
Last year, Neom’s environment director Richard Bush made members of the Advisory Committee on a helicopter visit to the ski resort and Neom ski area where the line is under development, landing on a golf course planned on an island where she visited half built villas. Bush would leave Neom at the end of May, a person familiar with the case said.
Another member of the Advisory Group, known as the Environmental Steering Committee for the Neom, is USHA Rao-Monari, non-executive director of the strong Australian mining group, who was also the main advisor to the Blackstone Infrastructure Group. A person close to her refused to comment
The future of the committee is being reviewed, as part of the broader examination of the project by interim director general Aiman al-Mudaifer, said Wuebbles, adding that “the whole operation was slowed by six to 12 months”.
WUEBBLES, however, said that it was impressed by the use of Neom's technology, and hoped that it could one day become a model for sustainable cities of the future. “They try to do something like a moon motoons: nothing like it has been done before, and there are so many things that could be learned.”
Additional reports by Ahmed Al Omran
