By Goth Mohamed Goth
The Somaliland Roads Agency awarded five of its staff for diligence for the year 2019 in a ceremony held in Burao, the country second largest city.
Among the dignitaries present during the ceremony were the minister of transport, the managing director of Somaliland Roads Agency, the governor of Togdheer region , mayor of Burao , traditional elders and other dignitaries.
The governor of Togdheer region, Mr. Hamse Mohamed Abdi Mohamed, Mayor of Burao, Road development agency Mr. Ahmed Yusuf Ahmed, elders and other officials speaking during the ceremony said that it’s important to motivate and encourage workers who put more efforts in their work.
Minister of Transport and Road Development Hon Abdulahi Abokor Osman who speaking at the event said that the five workers were fairly selected by the technical committee for their diligence and honesty in executing their work.
“The roads development agency has more than 200 staffers tasked with building the Erigavo road project, some of them live and work in difficult conditions under the scorching sun, rains and spent nights in the cold and away from the families. All of them deserve to be acknowledged for efforts but today only five of them were selected for the awards ,” he said.
He added that the government of Somaliland will this year (2020) start construction works for the Burao airport, which was the first ever airport build in all Somali speaking regions by the colonial government in 1921, today Burao deserves to have an airport but due to technical and financial constraints the project was stalled and all efforts were direct towards building the Berbera airport which is used by the whole country but today we meet with the committee tasked with the implementation of the project to discuss the way forward. Ten days ago , I met with the President of the Republic of Somaliland to discuss the project at Burao Airport, and we expect the project to start by 2020. ”
The minister of transport further said that the ministry would build a new 7km road in Burao, 18 May suburb. We are hereby pledging that the ministry and the municipality will cooperate on completing the 7km road as soon possible , and the ministry and the roads development agency is building a 4km and 5km road in Erigavo and Sool region. We have discussed with the mayor on the technicalities and agreed that the ministry will provide the part of the funds, the know how and equipment for the job.
Finally, the minister said that the Somaliland development fund has allocated funds worth $ 8 million for the Berbera-Burao road revamps, the work will start soon.
