A top executive at Neom, the world’s biggest construction project, was heard complaining about being forced to have a meeting on Sunday evening after the death of three workers at the construction site. According to an explosive report in the Wall Street Journal, Neom executives were summoned to office for a crisis management meeting after three workers died while working at the $500 billion project in Saudi Arabia.
Neom is an ambitious mega-city project in Saudi Arabia that was announced in 2017 by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Marketed as a global tourism destination, this Belgium-sized project includes plans for luxury resorts, futuristic entertainment facilities, and wellness centres.
The project, however, is currently under fire after WSJ reported that Wayne Borg, a former Hollywood executive hired to run Neom’s media division, was heard complaining about his Sunday evening plans being disrupted by the emergency meeting over the death of three workers.
In his tirade, the 59-year-old Australian executive was also heard making racist comments about workers from the Indian subcontinent.
“White people are at the top”
"A whole bunch of people die so we've got to have a meeting on a Sunday night," Borg said, according to a recording of the meeting heard by WSJ.
{{/usCountry}}"A whole bunch of people die so we've got to have a meeting on a Sunday night," Borg said, according to a recording of the meeting heard by WSJ.
{{/usCountry}}He also said the project’s blue-collar workers from the Indian subcontinent had been “f—ing morons” and “that is why white people are at the top of the pecking order.”
Borg reiterated his racist views in a later conversation about the deaths, which occurred due to a falling pipe, a collapsed wall, and mishandling of explosives, according to Fortune magazine.
“You can’t train for stupidity,” Borg said. “The white blokes are at the top of the tree.”
This is not the only shocking allegation being levelled against top Neom executives. Workers say that the world’s biggest construction project is rife with unprofessional behaviour from top management. In fact, Neom CEO Nadhmi Al-Nasr frequently belittles and berates his juniors, according to the WSJ report.