Civil engineering giant Jacobs has said it is “proud” to be working on the Neom port project Oxagon, despite a human rights controversy relating to the area.
Jacobs said it had been appointed to provide technical and environmental advisory services to DataVolt as part of a $5bn (£3.8bn) wider package of work “to deliver a fully sustainable, net-zero data centre ecosystem.”
DataVolt is developing “a new artificial intelligence (AI) factory campus in Oxagon, Neom’s advanced industrial city”. Oxagon is one of the megaprojects within the wider Neom gigaproject, and is planned to become an advanced manufacturing hub and port.
The location of the port gives it ready access in the north to the Suez Canal and therefore the Mediterranean and Europe, as well as to the Red Sea in the south, opening up opportunities to export to Africa and Asia.
Jacobs said the campus would “run entirely on renewable energy, using advanced cooling systems and energy-efficient architecture to reduce its environmental footprint.
“Designed to operate at net zero, the facility will help meet rising global demand for AI data processing while minimizing carbon emissions.”
It added that the company is “supporting early-stage delivery to ensure the right foundations are in place from the start – enabling infrastructure that is future-ready, sustainable and resilient.”
Jacobs vice president, Neom portfolio manager John Service said: “This project reflects what’s possible when innovation and sustainability come together at scale.
“We’re proud to support DataVolt in delivering a campus that advances the Kingdom’s ambition to lead in clean, AI-powered digital infrastructure.”
DataVolt CEO Rajit Nanda said: “This agreement with Neom and Oxagon underscores our unwavering commitment to support the Kingdom’s vision of becoming a regional digital and AI hub.
“The Kingdom’s strategic location, coupled with its abundant green energy resources, aligns perfectly with DataVolt’s mission in providing state-of-the-art sustainable data centres.”
Saudi authorities accused of attempting to forcibly displace residents
Al-Muwaila is a village in the south of Tabuk province on the Red Sea coast, and in October 2025, NCE reported that Saudi-focused human rights group ALQST had claimed that its residents are facing cuts to water and power supplies, as well as the closure of their schools.
The village is near the planned Oxagon megaproject.
On Friday 26 September, ALQST reported: “In recent weeks, Saudi authorities have renewed efforts to displace residents of al-Muwaila village, part of the area planned for Neom.
“Schools have shut, forcing families to send children to Duba, 47km away. Residents have been warned to evacuate or face power and water cuts.”
Duba is notably outside of the area marked as Neom on Google Maps.
An ALQST spokesperson confirmed to NCE that the children in al-Muwaila village were going to schools within the village, but these are now closed.
The ALQST spokesperson added on Monday 29 September, that in the previous week, power and water supplies to al-Muwaila had been cut by the Saudi authorities as part of attempts to evict the residents.
As of 1 October, the cuts to power and water supplies were understood to be ongoing and “is a ploy to drive people out,” the spokesperson told NCE.
ALQST deputy director Josh Cooper told NCE: “The forced displacement of residents from al-Muwaila village is a clear reminder that serious human rights concerns tied to Neom project remain unresolved — and are likely to intensify as construction moves forward.”
The UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) – the UN Refugee Agency – says: “Forced displacement occurs when individuals and communities have been forced or obliged to flee or to leave their homes or places of habitual residence as a result of or in order to avoid the effects of events or situations such as armed conflict, generalised violence, human rights abuses, natural or man-made disasters, and/or development projects.
“It both includes situations where people have fled as well as situations where people have been forcibly removed from their homes, evicted or relocated to another place not of their choosing, whether by State or non-State actors. The defining factor is the absence of will or consent.”
The agency says: “There are 42.5M refugees across the world and around half of them are under the age of 18.
“The total number of displaced people worldwide is 117.3M. This includes not only refugees but also asylum-seekers and people displaced inside their own countries.”
NCE approached Jacobs for comment, asking whether the company was aware of the alleged attempted forced displacement before it agreed to commit to the work for DataVolt. The company did not respond.
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