The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) called Monday for the swift repair of two ports in southern Yemen to reduce the cost of imported food, as the war-torn country races against the threat of large-scale famine.
“The Ports of Aden and Mukalla represent critical and irreplaceable infrastructure that are essential to commercial and humanitarian activities in Yemen, particularly in relation to the overall food supply chain,” UNDP said in its report.
It stressed that Dutch experts from the Port of Rotterdam and Solid Port Solutions were deployed by UNDP between 22 November and 4 December 2020 to conduct an initial assessment to determine the minimum requirements to improve productivity and effective management of the ports.
Fixing the ports will "reduce the cost of food in Yemen," Auke Lootsma, the UNDP's resident country representative, told AFP.
"The looming famine in Yemen is a question of food affordability and not food availability."
"For example, 50 percent of a kilogramme price of wheat is made up of transport costs, such as shipping, insurance and demurrage."
Last month, UNDP warned that famine could become part of Yemen's "reality" this year, after a donor conference sought to raise $3.85 billion from more than 100 governments and donors, but only reached $1.7 billion.
According to the UN agency, the damage and capacity assessment report found that an investment package of $ 49,590,000 ($ 21,560,000 for Aden and US$ 28,030,000 for Mukalla) is needed to both maintain current operations and restore them to pre-war conditions.
The project's priorities consist of maintaining current port operations, improving cargo handling at both ports and restoring safety and sustainability of the ports’ operations and assets.
A similar assessment by the same organizations was conducted in 2019 at the Ports of Hodeidah, Salif, and Ras Issa in Yemen’s north.
