shout out to GAROWE!!

[garoweboy]

GAROWE for ever

[Berke]

Just few questions. Why was Garowe chosen as the capitol city of Puntland State? Other than its central location, was there any other reason why it was chosen to be the capitol city of Puntland? How big was it compared to other small towns of the time like Qardho, Eyle and Badhan when it was chosen as the seat of the state government?

And lastly who financed that large mosque in Garowe? Who were the main individuals behind the mosque project? What is in the works, in terms of development, for Garowe?

[Monk-of-Mogadishu]

Just few questions. Why was Garowe chosen as the capitol city of Puntland State? Other than its central location, was there any other reason why it was chosen to be the capitol city of Puntland? How big was it compared to other small towns of the time like Qardho, Eyle and Badhan when it was chosen as the seat of the state government?

And lastly who financed that large mosque in Garowe? Who were the main individuals behind the mosque project? What is in the works, in terms of development, for Garowe?

I think it was chosen as the capital for clan reasons. The head of the SSDF right before A/Yusuf took control was Ciise Maxamud, the city was chosen as a form of appeasement. Not to mention it was a very MJ-dominated city unlike Galkacyo or Bosaso which meant that SSDF remain in greater control of the state. Size-wise, it wasn't much bigger than it is today, MJs exaggerate how small some of their cities were before the civil war; Garowe was always an important city going back as far as the late 1800s. Size-wise it was no smaller than what you'd find in Dhusomareeb today, and it hasn't grown much in terms of size, just development.

As for that mosque, I think it was a public effort. In 2007 I posted an ad here from PuntlandPost and they were taking donations, there was a huge list of donors ranging from $10 from individuals to $10,000 from local companies.

As for upcoming, there's supposed two stories added to the old hospital. There is also a planned "Federal City" portion that will see the construction of a new parliament building and other federal institutions buildings in an area of the city. A shopping mall is in the works, and Golis Telecom is building a new headquarters as well as some telecommunications towers. Development is always slow as hell, simple projects take like 4 years minimum to complete.

[garoweboy]

^

[udun]

[snoop12]

big up garowe.

[Berke]

Thanks for the answer man. Are there any plans to implement a tree project in this city? I watched videos of it and it looks like it could use some trees being planted there. With its high elevation I would assume it has a pretty temperate climate too. Is that the case? I always assumed the south had better weather than the south as it was more lush in terms of vegetation but I realized that it is the other way around. Of course there are always the exceptions like Djibouti city and Berbera for the north and Xamar for the south.

[Monk-of-Mogadishu]

Re-forestation has been a huge priority in Puntland. There are farms being planned just outside of Garowe as water storage and transportation methods become more sophisticated. There are now water pipes that bring water to residential homes in Bosaso and Qardho, I'm not sure about Garowe. This has also been used to the effect of irrigation.

[Berke]

Re-forestation has been a huge priority in Puntland. There are farms being planned just outside of Garowe as water storage and transportation methods become more sophisticated. There are now water pipes that bring water to residential homes in Bosaso and Qardho, I'm not sure about Garowe. This has also been used to the effect of irrigation.

Where do these cities get the water? I was recently reading an article about Hargaisa's water shortage problem and I was wondering where Somali cities that do not have rivers get their water.
http://www.somalilandtimes.net/Archive/42/4208.htm

[Monk-of-Mogadishu]

Ever heard of the Nugaal valley? Its virtually a river of its own. It carries water that flows just west of Las Canood all the way into the Indian Ocean in Eyl.

Waqoyi and Togdheer are flat and thus have far less water than Nugaal and Bari which have massive water reserves due to deep valleys that store the water.

Open google maps on your browser and head to Garowe, follow the main road west out of the city then go south and follow the dry river bed, you should see it get wetter as it goes down. That's a huge source of water that gets neglected too often. During rainy season it practically a river. Below are examples of this river bed at normal water capacity.

Eyl, Nugaal




Boocame, Sool

[Cumar-Labasuul]

Berke, do people in south somalia, that live in near a river, use the water directly from the river or is there a process to purify it?

I too heard about the water shortage problem in hargeysa, and to be honest all I know is that the city's water comes from a place called biyo-shiine (which, as the name suggests, was built by chinese some time ago) where I presume they have dug a 'riig'.
Back when hargeysa used to be a caravan stop for nomads (before colonial times) people used to get water from the doox namely called maroodi-jeex (apparently elephants used to get water by digging through the soil). I believe with proper governance we can use water more wisely.

[Berke]

Cumar, most of them, including even cities with rivers, get it from wells. Water from the wells do not require much treatment. The two rivers are not used to their full potential to be honest because the people living in the cities on the rivers today are mostly nomads that do not know anything about farming, irrigation or water reservation. I can only speak about my hometown and although there is a river nearby, most people there get their water from the wells and they have several privately owned water treatment facilities that they use for cleaning the water. I believe they have a bottled water (or mineral water as some call it) company there that also provides water to the people for a price.