Yemen dreams of its own Hong Kong in Aden

[SOO MAAL]

 

The project will boost Yemen's economy

 

 

Yemen dreams of its own Hong Kong in Aden

 

 

DP World has plan for making port of Aden world-class port given its strategic location.

 

 

By Christian Chaise - ADEN, Yemen

 

It is a shadow of its former splendour, its name is linked to Al-Qaeda and its docks are frequently deserted, but the Yemeni government is dreaming of transforming the port of Aden into another Hong Kong.

 

 

In its bid to dissociate Aden's name from the October 2000 attack on the USS Cole, Sanaa has turned to a company which has proven its credentials as a world-class port operator.

 

 

"We have an idea. We have a plan for Aden," Mohammed Sharaf, chief executive of Dubai Ports World (DP World), said.

 

 

"We want it to grow and we believe we can do that. We have the tools, we have the knowledge and we think the market is growing."

 

 

DP World, controlled by the Dubai government, won an international tender last year to upgrade and operate the southern port of Aden under a 30-year concession.

 

 

The company has promised to invest 493 million dollars over a 30-year period, according to Mohammed Salem, Yemen's assistant minister of transport.

 

 

But no contract has been signed with DP World yet because the deal requires parliamentary approval.

 

 

At present the port is operating at barely half of its capacity of 620,000 TEU (20-foot equivalent container unit). DP World said it plans to take up the capacity to three million TEU and promote it as a free zone.

 

 

"Given its strategic location ... Aden can become a very busy port," said Saad Sabrah, Yemen's country officer with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the World Bank's private sector investment arm.

 

 

Aden, on the Gulf of Aden in the Indian Ocean, is 170 kilometres (105 miles) east of Bab al-Mandeb, a narrow strait leading into the Red Sea and separating Yemen from the Horn of Africa.

 

 

The port was under British control for more than 100 years until independence in 1967.

 

 

During a visit to Hong Kong in April, President Ali Abdullah Saleh was said to have commented that Aden could be another Hong Kong as he stood on a hilltop admiring the city's famed Victoria Harbour, according to the Yemen Times.

 

 

But in order to realise its potential, Aden must first convince the world that it is a safe and secure port.

 

 

"If there is safety, the port can become very busy, especially if DP World runs it," the IFC's Sabrah said.

 

 

In October 2000, 17 US sailors were killed when militants aboard a small boat packed with explosives blew themselves up against the destroyer USS Cole docked in Aden in an attack later claimed by the Al-Qaeda terror network.

 

 

Since then Yemen has been battling suspected Qaeda militants throughout the country with Washington's help.

 

 

Sabrah said that the government has given assurances to international investors like DP World that there will be "zero percent risk in terms of security".

 

 

But some Yemenis doubt the chances of realising Aden's potential given the endemic corruption in a country ranked among the world's poorest.

 

 

"It is corruption that has shattered the dreams of having the Aden port restore the important role it played during the British colonisation," Mohammed Hatem al-Qadhi wrote in the Yemen Times.

 

 

"Aden port is our future and can be Yemen's main source of income if the regime is serious enough and works to create a secure environment for both local and international investors."

 

 

And there are nationalist voices echoing those in parliament that have questioned DP World's true motives in wanting to operate Aden.

 

 

They say Aden can potentially compete with the company's home port of Jebel Ali in the United Arab Emirates that is ranked among the world's top 10 container ports and a juggernaut in the trans-shipment trade with Asia.

 

 

But Sharaf of DP World, which in March abandoned its right to manage six US ports due to fierce opposition in the United States on security grounds, said it was a win-win situation for all sides.

 

 

"Dubai has its own limit ... So what do you do? You go outside within the region, grow the region. If the region grows, we all grow, we all prosper ... In our formula, all parties win," he said.

 

 

The company became one of the world's top three container-port operators following its 6.9-billion-dollar acquisition of Britain's Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company earlier this year.