Sudanese port to be developed with $4bn Qatari funding

HE the Minister of Transport and Communications Jassim Seif Ahmed al-Sulaiti and Sudan’s Minister of Transportation, Roads and Bridges Makawi Mohamed Awad yesterday witnessed the signing of the minutes of the meeting of the joint committee on developing and managing the Sudanese Port of Suakin.
Hassan bin Hassan al-Hail, chairman of the joint committee on transport with the Ministry of Transport and Communications (MoTC), and director-general of Sudan’s Maritime Ports Authority Dr Abdul Hafiz Saleh Ali, signed the minutes of the meeting. The event was also attended by Qatar’s ambassador to Sudan, Rashid bin Abdul Rahman al-Nuiami.
The Suakin Port development and management project is expected to be completed in 2020 with Qatari funding worth $4bn, of which $500mn will be allocated for implementing the first phase, the official Qatar News Agency reported. The Sudanese and Qatari share of the project will be 51% and 49%,
respectively, according to Awad.
The minutes of the meeting, signed yesterday morning in Khartoum, outline a future roadmap for co-operation and general frameworks for partnership.
Starting this April as a beginning of the co-operation, HE al-Sulaiti said, a maritime route would be launched between Hamad Port and Suakin Port to ship Sudanese livestock, stressing that the minutes of the meeting included a “powerful economic co-operation in the interest of both brotherly countries”.
He also stressed the strength of Qatari-Sudanese relations, for which the foundations were laid by His Highness the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani and Sudanese President Omer Hassan al-Bashir.
This step, he added, would bring back Suakin Port’s historic glory and make it a maritime commercial gateway as well as a key, vital economic platform in the region.
Suakin Port, HE the Minister said, has its advantages and is supporting exports significantly, especially the economies of the African region. He also stressed its importance and vital, strategic location, its connection to the Silk Road and uniqueness for being an important meeting point for exportation, particularly
for neighbouring countries.
He emphasised that the port’s development works would move at an accelerated pace to finalise its rehabilitation and development by 2020, taking into account the application of the world’s latest technologies for operations, as well as
environmental standards.
Meanwhile, Awad hailed the Qatari role that is supportive of Sudan in all fields, nothing that it has contributed to the country’s progress and economic development. He said the minutes of the meeting came within the framework of successful strategic partnerships between the two brotherly countries.
Awad stressed that the project would provide high-quality services to all vessels on the Red Sea, as Suakin Port is a new seaport for Africa and an investment source to provide economic benefits for Sudan and serve the two countries’ interests.