Agree about desalination. But there’s a hidden planet wide revolution going on as to the cost of desalination. The Israelis have mastered it so well they use desalinated water for irrigation of their farms. Now they’re very smart about it. the desalinated water first goes to their cities, then its cleaned to brown water standards—& then sent to their farms.
The saudis don’t have to be quite as cost conscious as the Israelis. They won’t have forests of palm trees. but there will be plenty of vegetation. These are not going to be resorts for the hoi poloi. The saudis want to steal vacationers from dubai and uae. take a look at what those countries built from nothing and nothing. Their desalination plants are older and more expensive. The UAE and Dubai are starting up whole industries of indoor farms.
In all honesty, I hope they do so, IF they add lots of vegetation. This could start the area to be more green and they could begin to reclaim some of the desert.
I wish all arid countries would start such an endeavor.