Announcement of Five Hundred Fifty Thousand Dollar Credit for Consultants’ Services for New Port in Somalia on February 26, 1969

• INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPI\1ENT ASSOCIATION 1818 H STREET, N.W., WASHINGTON D:,c. 20433 TELEPHONE: EXECUTIVE 3-6360 IDA Press Release No. 69/10 Subject: $550,000 credit for consultants' February 26, 1969 services for new port in Somalia A credit of $550,000 from the International Development Association (IDA) will help finance consultants' services for final engineering of a new port at Mogadiscio, the capital of Somalia, and to assist the Somali Ports Authority in setting up a conmercial accounting system. Mogadiscio is one of the three major ports on Somalia's 1,125-mile coast- line on the Indian Ocean. It now handles nearly half the country's imports. • Open-sea lighterage operations are employed at the existing port; cargo handling is slow and costly and there is considerable loss and damage to cargo. /. , The French consulting firm, Societe Grenobloise d'Etudes et d'Applica- tions Hydrauliques (SOGREAH), whose services were financed in part by a World Bank technical assistance grant of $311,000, made extensive site and hydro- logical investigations together with coat comparisons for a port at the present site or alternative ones. It recoaaended the construction of a new two-berth deep-water port at Ras Sif, about one mile from the existing port. The Somali Government has retained the same firm for the detailed engineering, to be completed in about nine months. It is estimated that construction of the port at Ras Sif will cost the equivalent of about $15 million. Because of Somalia's financial situation, • most of the financing will have to come from external sources. Undertaking /more IDA Presa lleleaae Ro. 69/10-Somalia-Port - 2 - the final engineering now will permit the construction of the new facilities to commence without undue delay when construction financing can be arranged. • The Somali Porta Authority was established in 1962 to operate the country's ports comprising the three major ports at Mogadiscio, Berbera and Chiaimaio, and 12 others. The establishnent of coanercial accounting ia essential for proper financial control o, port operations and for·setting appropriate financial policies. A British firm, Associated Industrial Consultants, will assist the Authority in setting up such accounts and in the training of Somali perst,nnel. The IDA credit will be for a term of 10 years, including two years of grace. It will be free of interest but a service charge of 3/4 of 11 will • be made to cover IDA's administrative costs. - 0 - •