Fishing Boats in Bosaso Port
Puntland Government plans to enlarge Bosaso port which is a key source of government revenue through taxation on imports and exports at the busiest, if not biggest port in Somalia after the Mogadishu Port.
Puntland plans on adding a new port for use by small fishing boats and other travel boats. The planned location for fishing boats at Bosaso Port will be the NEC FISH area within the port, according to Puntland Officials including Puntland’s Minister of Ports and Anti-Piracy, Siad Mohamed Raage and the Governor of Bosaso town, Abdisamad Galan.
On October 20, 2011 during the Combating Piracy Week Conference in London, UK, President Abdirahman Faroole stated in his speech, "....We have Bosaso port which is Puntland‘s economic lifeline, we do not have airports to collect taxes from and depend largely on that single port."
The chairman of Bari region also confirmed to Somalia Report of the ongoing plans for an additional, mini-port for exclusive use by fishing and travel boats. He added that Puntland’s Ministry of Sea Ports and Anti-Piracy is implementing the project.
Bosaso's businessmen welcome the planned expansion of the port.
"We are pleased to hear that, because the port is not enough for both fishing boats and other commercial vessels. It is a good idea to give fishing boats as separate section," said Liiban Dhere, a renown businessman in Bosaso.
Since the collapse of the Somali Government, Bosaso Port is now the busiest port in Somalia. The Puntland government uses collected taxes to pay salaries to large number of Puntland soldiers and other government workers.
According to a Press Release on 7 Jan 2012, the Puntland government plans on establishing a new port for use by small fishing boats and other travel boats bound for neighboring countries.
The Minister for Sea Ports and Piracy informed local and international media that construction of the small port had not yet began but the government plans to implement the project in 2012.
The minister said in his speech, that the government will assign this small port for use by humanitarian agencies and the Puntland community.
He added that the Ministry of Ports and Anti-piracy, plans on constructing a holding ground for livestock awaiting exportation. The port will in the future have a beacon to direct incoming and outgoing ships since it will operate 24 hours a day.
This is the first time that the Puntland government has pledged to establish a new port.
Somalia Report made efforts to get comments from the concerned ministry, but our calls went unanswered.
Bosaso is the port and commercial city of Somalia's autonomous state of Puntland. It is undergoing rapid growth and used to be a small fishermen's town with a population of about 40,000. After the outbreak of the civil war in Somalia, a massive population including those not originally from Northern Somalia moved into Bosaso. Presently, Bosaso’s population is estimated at approximately 650,000.