Saudi Support Raises Efficiency of Yemeni Airports

Aden International Airport, SDRPY
Aden International Airport, SDRPY
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Saudi Support Raises Efficiency of Yemeni Airports

Aden International Airport, SDRPY
Aden International Airport, SDRPY

The Saudi Development and Reconstruction Program for Yemen (SDRPY) contributions, especially the rehabilitation and development of Yemeni airports, constitute a vital arm for the Yemeni economy.

The rehabilitation of airports represents an essential contribution to improving development in Yemen. This is achieved by raising the level and efficiency of airports and the quality of services provided to travelers and companies operating in the field of aviation.

According to a special report obtained by Asharq Al-Awsat, SDRPY seeks to rehabilitate and develop airports to activate and build the capacities of Yemeni institutions, and to improve the level of infrastructure and basic services provided to the Yemeni people.

SDRPY projects contribute to achieving sustainable development by facilitating trade, tourism and humanitarian aid, which provides job opportunities and improves the standard of living by supporting social stability.

They also help in reaping economic benefits for Yemen by stimulating economic movement and increasing exports and trade.

Aden

Last January, SDRPY launched the first phase of one of its most important projects which is the rehabilitation and upgrading of the Aden International Airport.

The project will develop over three phases.

Phase I focuses on providing electricity, safety measures, and transportation. The external main gates and roads of the complex will be studied and redesigned, and passenger transport buses provided.

Phase II will consist of constructing and connecting vital service systems, such as telecommunications, navigation and air traffic control. Rehabilitation of the runway and taxi areas, gates, and tunnels connecting gates to aircraft will also be undertaken.

Phase III will focus on alignment of airport facilities and operations with ICAO standards in all areas, including safety, electricity supply, interior and exterior infrastructure, air traffic control and navigation.

Al Ghaydah, the capital city of Al Mahrah Governorate

SDRPY succeeded in upgrading and developing Al Ghaydah Airport in Al Mahrah Governorate. The project included equipping the facility with all communications systems, international maritime requirements. It also developed and restored waiting, departure and inspection halls, equipping them with all devices necessary.

The program conducted several tests of the air navigation systems for Al-Ghaydah Airport, in cooperation with internationally accredited companies, which included surveying the airport.

SDRPY equipped Al-Ghaydah Airport with international navigation systems that comply with the specifications of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a body which regulates air traffic.

Socotra

Last April, SDRPY launched two new projects in Socotra governorate in support of transport and airport sectors, and to complete vital development projects in the governorate.

The first project is to provide public transportation buses to raise the efficiency of the transportation sector services within the island, and to serve the people by facilitating their transportation and improving their daily lives.

The second was launched in support of Socotra Airport, by providing everything necessary for the success of the safety plans inside the facility, by preparing an advanced fire truck operating with the latest technologies, which comply with the recommendations of airport safety and firefighting from the ICAO, in addition to providing an ambulance with all medical and emergency supplies.



Key Public Service Makes Quiet Return in Gaza

A Palestinian boy runs among the rubble of a destroyed house and damaged cars following Israeli airstrikes on Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza Strip, 22 December 2024. (EPA)
A Palestinian boy runs among the rubble of a destroyed house and damaged cars following Israeli airstrikes on Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza Strip, 22 December 2024. (EPA)
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Key Public Service Makes Quiet Return in Gaza

A Palestinian boy runs among the rubble of a destroyed house and damaged cars following Israeli airstrikes on Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza Strip, 22 December 2024. (EPA)
A Palestinian boy runs among the rubble of a destroyed house and damaged cars following Israeli airstrikes on Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza Strip, 22 December 2024. (EPA)

The quiet resumption of operations at a desalination plant in the Gaza Strip last month marked a small but significant step toward restoring public services in the Palestinian territory ravaged by more than 14 months of war.

The process of restarting the plant in Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza, involved both Israeli and Palestinian stakeholders who could have a hand in the territory's future, especially amid renewed hopes for a ceasefire in recent days.

While its reopening has had a limited tangible impact so far, diplomats close to the project suggest it could offer a tentative roadmap for Gaza's post-war administration.

Since being reconnected to Israel's electricity grid, the station has been producing approximately 16,000 cubic meters of water per day, according to UNICEF.

It serves more than 600,000 Gaza residents through tankers or the networks of Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis governorates in central and southern Gaza, respectively.

"Its production capacity remains limited in the face of immense needs," an official within the Palestinian Energy and Natural Resources Authority (PENRA) told AFP.

Residents of the devastated Palestinian territory have struggled since the early days of the war between Israel and Hamas to secure even basic necessities, including food and clean water.

Human Rights Watch last week accused Israel of committing "acts of genocide" in Gaza by restricting water access -- a claim denied by Israeli authorities.

The WASH Cluster, which brings together humanitarian organizations in the water sector, reports that distribution of water has become very complex in Gaza.

The pipelines transporting water have been damaged, leaving Gazans -- many of whom are living in makeshift shelters after being displaced by bombardments -- without any means of storing the essential resource.

The plant is one of three such seawater processing facilities in the Gaza Strip, which before the war met around 15 percent of the 2.4 million residents' needs.

In the months following the outbreak of war, sparked by the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, the plant operated at minimal capacity, relying on solar panels and generators amid a persistent scarcity of fuel in Gaza.

It could fully resume operations only after reconnecting to one of the power lines supplied by Israel, which charges the Palestinian Authority for the electricity.

- Practical solutions -

UNICEF, which provides technical support for the Deir al-Balah plant, indicated in late June that it had reached an agreement with Israel to restore electricity to the plant.

Subsequently, COGAT, a division of Israel's defense ministry overseeing civilian affairs in the Palestinian territories, announced that the desalination plant had been reconnected to the Israeli grid.

But the line meant to supply the plant was heavily damaged.

"It took five months to repair the line from Kissufim" in Israel, said Mohammed Thabet, spokesman for Gaza's electricity company. "These are emergency, temporary solutions."

Several diplomatic sources told AFP that the episode showed the Palestinian Authority had proven it was in a position to have a hand in the future governance of Gaza, as its institutions were fixing the electricity line on the ground, coordinating with all actors.

The Authority aims to play a central role in post-war Gaza, seeking to strengthen its influence in the territory after it was significantly weakened when Hamas took control in 2007.

An Israeli security source told AFP that the Israeli partners involved had acted on "instructions from the political echelons", and that the project was part of an effort to prevent an outbreak of disease, which could endanger the lives of hostages still held in Gaza.

When Hamas fighters attacked Israel last year, they abducted 251 hostages, of whom 96 are still held in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.

Israel "facilitated the connection of the electric line specifically to the desalination plant", the source said, adding that a mechanism was in place to track usage to "prevent electricity from being stolen".

Israeli authorities' cooperation on the plant's reopening comes soon after it agreed to work with a UN-led polio vaccination drive, pausing its bombing campaign in Gaza in areas where children were receiving the doses.