Somaliland Minister Says Burao Airport Works to Start in 2020

On 28 February 2020, Somaliland Standard reported that Somaliland's Minister of Transport and Road Development, Hon Abdulahi Abokor Osman, said the government of Somaliland would this year (2020) start construction works for the Burao airport. The same report does not establish that any of those works have started, been contracted, funded or scheduled since.

According to the minister, the Burao airport project had been stalled due to technical and financial constraints, with efforts directed to building the Berbera airport instead. He said a committee tasked with implementation of the Burao airport project was meeting that day to discuss the way forward, and that ten days earlier he had met the President of Somaliland to discuss the project. According to the minister, the project was expected to start by 2020.

The report does not name a contractor, consultant or implementing agency for the airport. It states no contract value, total project cost, funding source or construction timeline. No start date or completion date is given beyond the 2020 expectation.

The minister also spoke about road works in the same remarks. He said the ministry would build a new 7km road in Burao's 18 May suburb, and pledged that the ministry and the municipality would cooperate on completing it as soon as possible. According to the minister, the ministry agreed to provide part of the funds, the know-how and equipment for that road. No cost, contractor, funding split or start date for the 7km road was disclosed.

On the Berbera-Burao road, the minister said the Somaliland development fund had allocated funds worth $8 million for revamps, and that work would start soon. The report does not state the currency behind the $ symbol, whether the funds have been spent, or when work will start. Allocation is not expenditure.

The minister said the ministry and the roads development agency were building a 4km and 5km road in Erigavo and Sool region. The report does not specify which road is 4km and which is 5km, or give a contractor, cost or further status for either.

Somaliland Standard also reported that the Roads Development Agency Somaliland awarded five of its staff for diligence for the year 2019 in a ceremony held in Burao. According to the minister, the five workers were selected by the technical committee for their diligence and honesty. According to the minister, the roads development agency has more than 200 staffers tasked with building the Erigavo road project.

Somaliland Standard reported that dignitaries at the ceremony included the minister of transport, the managing director of the Somaliland development Roads Agency, the governor of Togdheer region, the mayor of Burao and traditional elders. The published sentence listing these officials is garbled, and the name-to-role mapping is unclear.

The minister described Burao airport, according to Somaliland Standard, as the first ever airport built in all Somali speaking regions by the colonial government in 1921. That historical claim is attributed to the minister and is not independently verified in the report.

What happens next is not established by the report. The minister's 2020 expectation is the only time reference for the Burao airport works, and the implementation committee's membership, mandate, budget and terms are not disclosed.