The Saudi Arabian company behind the $1 trillion project called The Line has issued a new statement following the reports that 21,000 workers had died.
The Line is expected to become a brand new city that is one long straight line.
The project by NEOM is hoped to eventually be 110 miles long and will stretch all the way from the Red Sea to the city of Tabuk.
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A new ITV documentary shocked viewers after it claimed that thousands of workers had reportedly died or gone missing during construction.
In the doc, which is titled Kingdom Uncovered: Inside Saudi Arabia, it was claimed that over 21,000 foreign workers have died during constructions as part of the Saudi Vision 2030 project, which includes The Line.
The wider project began back in 2016 and a major part of it is the construction of The Line, which promises to eventually house nine million residents when complete.
In the report by ITV, workers described themselves under the working conditions as ‘trapped slaves’ and ‘beggars’.
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There have also been allegations of wage theft, illegal working hours and human rights abuses.
Now, a statement has been issued in response to the claims made in the documentary.
In the statement as per Newsweek, the Saudi Arabian National Council for Occupational Safety and Health said: “In reference to the misinformation circulating across various media platforms - particularly claims suggesting an increase in worker fatalities linked to working conditions in Saudi Arabia, accompanied by unfounded statistics lacking credible sources - the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health in Saudi Arabia unequivocally refutes these assertions.”
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It continued: “The council affirms the work-related fatalities in Saudi Arabia is 1.12 per 100,000 workers. This figure positions Saudi Arabia among the lowest globally in terms of work-related fatalities.”
Away from the apparent ‘misinformation’, NEOM has issued an update on The Line and shared that phase one will soon begin.
On November 11, NEOM announced that it had appointed ‘world-leading partners to deliver the core city planning, design, and engineering for the first phase of THE LINE’.
The announcement went on: “Delugan Meissl Associate Architects (DMAA), Gensler and Mott MacDonald are collaborating with THE LINE’s design, development and project delivery teams to provide urban design, planning consultancy and infrastructure design for the first phase of the city.
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“NEOM, with the support of this group, has established a sophisticated design ecosystem with advanced and rigorous methodologies to deliver on THE LINE’s urban objectives. This will then be followed by the planning and design of the neighborhoods within phase one, which will be undertaken by a suite of architects starting early 2025.”
LADbible Group has contacted the Public Investment Fund, which manages the Vision 2030 projects, and NEOM for a comment.