Poor Infrastructure Places Eyl at the Bottom of Underdevelopment in Puntland

[Deeq A.]

Eyl (PP Features) — Eyl, the coastal district of Nugaal, is 96 miles to Garowe, the administrative capital of both the region and Puntland State of Somalia.  The district is divided into two neighbourhoods— Daawad and Badey. Badey, the coastal part, is 6km from the administrative part of the district, Daawad, where the district commissioners office, the primary school, the general hospital and police station are located.

Muuse Osman Yusuf: Eyl needs infrastructural investment to reach its economic potential.

“Eyl is a historic city. It was once a base for the Dervish leader Sayid Mohammed Abdille Hassan. One of the Dervishes’ buildings built in 1904 is still standing” said Muuse Osman Yusuf,  Eyl district commissioner. not. “In socioeconomic terme Eyl is dependent on livestock, seafood and agriculture affected by floods” Jama Salad, a businessman told Puntland Post.

Eyl farms affected by floods.

The treacherous gravel road off the Garowe-Bosaso road forms a key part of the itinerary. Torrential rains affect Eyl the gravel road and force drivers to drive through sandy and rocky patches of land. “There was a plan to build a paved road between Eyl and Garowe. There were tools and equipments of a Chinese company, [China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation Limited (CCECC)] at the gravel road to be used for construction of the road, but the company removed equipments and tools” added the Eyl District Commisioner.

The treacherous gravel road forms a key part of the itinerary when travelling to Eyl.

In 2017 the former Puntland State President Abdiweli Mohammed Ali told the local media that Puntland “signed with CCECC an agreement to construct Eyl-Garowe road.” In 2017 Puntland Parliament passed two separate agreements signed with DP World — on the extension of Bosaso Port — and with CCECC for oil prospecting.

Abdiasis Busur: We deliver basic services in Eyl.

What is more, Puntland had issued fishing licences to foreign trawlers until the Federal Government of Somalia banned licences issued by Federal Member States two years ago. Eyl has not benefited from revenues from fishing licences. Its fishing industry has not recovered from impact of illegal fishing,  piracy and government-sanctioned overfishing by foreign vessels.

Fishing Port

In May 2019 Puntland President Said Abdullahi Deni signed an agreement with CCECC to build a fishing port in at Eyl.  None of the three agreements Puntland State had signed with the Chinese company has been implemented.

President Deni with Michael Jiang Yigao, the Managing Director of China Civil Engineering Construction Company (CCECC) in Beijing.

“The economic potential of Eyl dwindles due to the heavily centralised Puntland State government and the ineffectual Parliament in Garowe” said Abdirashid Mohamud, a Nairobi-based postwar reconstruction expert.  “Eyl missed out on the infrastructure projects funded by the European Union. In my opinion commercially based infrastructural agreements signed by Puntland State with foreign companies put Eyl at a disadvantage when it comes development assistance from the European Union or multilateral organisations” added Abdirashid.

Abdiasis Busur, the Director of Department of Social Services at Eyl commended Puntland State government for the progress in the delivery of basic services including mother and child centres built in villages outside Eyl. “By basic services we mean education, hygiene and healthcare. Mothers in Dhigale village no longer travel to Eyl General Hospital thanks to the Joint Programme on Local Governance (JPLG) and Health and Education has Ministries” said Abdiasis.

© Puntland Post, 2021

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