When a country is rich enough, of course they can afford absolutely incredible projects, with incredible budgets. This is what the Line project for Saudi Arabia promises (or promised?) to be. To do such work on such construction, huge human resources are needed, and they are mainly taken not from locals, but from foreigners who came to earn money. You know very well that you can go to work in Saudi Arabia, and often you can earn good money there. But as in any case with foreign work, there are pitfalls everywhere, and this text reveals the negative aspects of working in this country. And if you want a safe job, I advise you to look for a job at this link https://layboard.in/vacancies/jobs-in-saudi-arabia/speciality/carpenter in order to avoid an unpleasant story, since our resource publishes honest good vacancies, and you will not get into the situations that will be discussed further.
What is The Line
The Line project is an unusual city with an interesting concept, which is being built as part of a large-scale plan in Saudi Arabia called Neom. Initially, it was conceived to be an incredibly long and relatively narrow building: 170 kilometers long, 200 meters wide and 500 meters high. However, in 2024, the plans were significantly reduced – to a length of only 2.4 kilometers. The city was promised to be unique: it should be environmentally friendly, without cars, with zero carbon dioxide emissions. Everything necessary for life – houses, shops, schools and parks – will be located in layers one above the other, so that each resident can get anywhere on foot in five minutes.
But, such an interesting and futuristic project faces quite significant criticism. Many experts doubt that such a linear structure will be convenient and practical. For example, if separate employment centers appear in the city, people will accumulate in these places, creating transport problems. There are also questions about the environmental friendliness of the project: the construction of such a huge structure will definitely harm the desert and may harm the local fauna, which will not be able to move freely across the desert because of the huge building in the middle. Although the developers claim that the “Line” will become a symbol of the future, critics believe that the project so far looks more like a grandiose, but poorly thought out dream, and as a result, it was shortened in terms of length, which entailed huge layoffs of workers hired to build this giant. And not for all people living in an artificially created place will be pleasant, since usually cities are built and developed organically and over time. This city will be as if immediately ready and the development potential is unknown.
Problems with the workforce
Quite a lot of people from countries like India, Pakistan, and other countries from all over the world often go to the Arabian Peninsula and to the countries around Saudi Arabia and to it in order to earn money. It just so happens that they really have something to offer for foreign workers. Since all these countries are developing rapidly and are quite rich, indeed, many people get a chance to find a job here with a higher salary than at home, and this tempts many to come here to work. This is facilitated by the fairly simple bureaucracy associated with work permits, work visas, and so on. But many people come and work illegally, risking their safety. This is what dishonest employers take advantage of. It sounds terrible, but the facts and investigations show that a huge number of workers die every year during the construction of this “megalopolis”, including due to the appalling working conditions and human rights violations. The latest available data shows that since the launch of Vision 2030, more than twenty thousand migrant workers from countries such as India, Bangladesh and Nepal have passed away.
Problems with working hours
In Saudi Arabia, the legal limit for working hours per week is 60 hours, and for a five-day workweek, this is 12 hours daily. You must admit, this is quite difficult, so local or high-ranking workers can work less, for example, 50 or 46 hours a week, and get good money for it. But to the greatest regret, for those who come to work, say, on a construction site, the rules will of course be different. For immigrant workers, there is no regulation. The same investigations cited examples of people working 16 hours a day, and 80+ hours a week. In such conditions, workers simply do not have time to sleep normally, there is no talk of resting normally. Other workers said that they work without days off for two weeks. It’s horrible to think that people work for two weeks, 16 hours a day, and they really have no choice because of the strictness.
Problems with salaries
If these employers have enough conscience to give their employees such working conditions, then, unfortunately, the situation with salaries is far from good. Employees often have their passports taken away, and this does not allow them to simply leave, since without a passport they will not be able to get a new job. The minimum wage for workers is generally about $800 a month, but with the clarification that this does not apply to foreign workers, who can often earn less, and maybe more – this is left to the conscience of the employer and is not regulated in any way. There are cases when workers were not given money for months, and they had to survive at the expense of compassionate people who donated food to them. What is sad is that it seems that no one there cares about this attitude towards foreign workers.
Investigations
Every study that is conducted about this whole situation in Saudi Arabia reveals more and more sad information. For example, the latest data from the Foreign Employment Board shows that about a third of the more than two thousand fatal cases of Nepalese workers over the past eight years are inexplicable in the normal sense. As we have already understood, foreign workers in Saudi Arabia are often cruelly exploited. Working 16 hours a day for two weeks without days off will never leave a person in a normal state, either psychologically or physically. The causes of death of such deceased workers usually include something like “cardiac and respiratory arrest for an unknown reason,” “natural causes,” “acute respiratory failure.” And of course, no one will say why this happens, and it is never completely clear what exactly the person died from. But it is clear to everyone that the heat and humidity, coupled with unbearable living and working conditions, as well as almost always the impossibility of access to medical care – all this together leads to such terrible consequences, and in the end it turns out that people leave to earn money in order to support themselves and their families, and return not only without money, but simply in coffins, and Saudi Arabia does not worry about this.
Often the victims of such a situation can be illegal workers. In order not to get such a state job with such consequences, firstly, look for a job on proven and reliable resources, secondly, always work legally, and thirdly, be very careful with the choice of work and the country in which you would like to work. Caution never hurts, and in a situation when you go to work in another country, it can save your life.