Somalia: Garacad Port Overshadows DP World Project

[Deeq A.]

Garowe (PP News Desk) — One day after the first ship docked at the new Garacad Port, Puntland State government has publicised resumption of DP World Bosaaso Port project.

DP World had put the port modernisation and expansion project on hold following the assassination of P&O project manager in Bosaso two years ago. Two other developments had had an impact on the delayed project: the Covid-19 pandemic and the delisting of DP World from Nasdaq Dubai.

The first ship docked at Garacad Port two days ago.

Wadaagsan, an infrastructure investment fund, has overseen the construction of the first privately owned seaport in Somalia. Puntland State government and Wadaagsan have yet to hammer out the taxation policy when importers from Puntland and other nearby Somali regions begin to use the new port.

Tax revenues from Bosaso could substantially decline Garacad’s proximity to several business hubs and lower transport costs. The fiscal change will affect centre-periphery relations in Somalia’s first autonomous administration founded in 1998. It will redefine relations between the Federal Government and Federal Member States.

Garacad investors are looking into ways to make the Federal Government a key stakeholder in the form of a guarantor, a development that will lead the seaport to acquire a national infrastructure status to reduce the higher insurance premium demanded by shipping companies docking at new, privately owned ports.

© Puntland Post, 2021

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