Skip to main content

World Bank funds Yemen highway project

The World Bank has announced a US$133.54 million grant to support the Government of Yemen’s ambitious plan to connect the northern and southern parts of the country with a 710 kilometre highway. The largest ever infrastructure project in Yemen’s history will play a vital role in the country’s transition by targeting the root causes of instability, such as lack of access to economic opportunities and poor national integration, and rebuilding the country’s social and economic base. “This is more than just
June 6, 2014 Read time: 2 mins
The 2000 World Bank has announced a US$133.54 million grant to support the Government of Yemen’s ambitious plan to connect the northern and southern parts of the country with a 710 kilometre highway. The largest ever infrastructure project in Yemen’s history will play a vital role in the country’s transition by targeting the root causes of instability, such as lack of access to economic opportunities and poor national integration, and rebuilding the country’s social and economic base.

“This is more than just a road project, it will make a significant contribution to future stability and growth,” said World Bank President Jim Yong Kim from neighbouring Saudi Arabia, where he is on the first stop of a four-day visit to the region. “Development is essential right now in Yemen and across the region to give meaning to political achievements and show what peace can deliver – which is why we are mobilising resources and building partnerships to support more of these transformational projects.”

The grant will finance the construction of the first, critical section of the highway. The bank’s Corridor Highway Project, combined with a parallel US$320 million project financed by the Saudi Fund for Development, will build 140 kilometres of road linking the port city of Aden with Taiz. This initial stretch of highway will connect two areas of the former South and North Yemen, bridging one of the country’s main political fault lines, and cross three governorates where one fifth of the country’s poor are located.

The bank’s Corridor Highway project is expected to be completed within three to four years, and create around 4,000 jobs (the equivalent of 1.28 million person/days of work). The large-scale construction will also offer opportunities for Yemeni contractors and the providers of various goods and services. In addition, the project will include training for the Ministry of Public Works and Highways to expand their capacity to manage the new highway.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Urban tunnel replaces viaduct, improves safety
    October 10, 2012
    Earthquake sensors, automatic barriers and real time monitoring systems are all part of a scheme to make a major Seattle traffic artery safer, by taking it underground. Huw Williams reports. Seattle’s metropolitan area of 3.5 million people, like much of the western seaboard of the United States, lies in an earthquake zone. In Seattle’s case, the city and its hinterland sit atop a complex network of interrelated active geological faults capable of severe seismic activity and posing complex considerations fo
  • Siemens tests eHighway system
    August 7, 2014
    Siemens, in conjunction with Volvo, is to trial an eHighway system on a two-mile stretch of highway in California in the vicinity of the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. The company was awarded the contract by Southern California’s South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) with the objectives of eliminating local emissions, reducing the consumption of fossil fuels and cutting the operating costs of trucks. The two ports are seeking an emission-free solution, Zero Emission I-710 Project, for a
  • Ethiopia’s first expressway nears completion
    April 14, 2014
    The Addis Ababa-Adama expressway in Ethiopia will be first expressway in Ethiopia and East Africa when complete and also the first toll road in the nation. It will connect the capital city Addis Ababa to Adama in Nazareth. Construction started in April 2010 and is scheduled to be complete in April 2014. The project is estimated to cost US$612 million and when complete the expressway will be able to accommodate 15,000 vehicles per day. The project is financed through a US$350 million loan from Export-Imp
  • Traffic to flow freely over world’s widest bridge
    November 13, 2012
    Pete Goldin reports on a new Egis project in Canada, providing open road tolling operations for the widest bridge in the world. A bridge can present a bottleneck in a system of roads or it can support the smooth and unobstructed flow of traffic. Much depends on the bridge design, surrounding infrastructure and tolling system. By adding lanes and deploying open road tolling (ORT), the new Port Mann Bridge located in the metropolitan Vancouver area in British Columbia, will alleviate congestion at one of the