When looking at the daunting task of bringing Somalia’s infrastructure, housing, and other physical building blocks up to speed with the modern world, how much money do you reckon it would cost, and more importantly, how long would the process take to complete?
If the question is overwhelming, and even alien to you, don’t fret. While Somalia has been on sleep mode for the past twenty years, its neighbors and the wider African and global community have been propping up mega-cities out of the ashes and in no time at all. The mother of these projects on the African continent has been the Angolan capital city of Luanda.
In one of the biggest examples of mass social construction in the continent’s history, President Jose Eduardo dos Santos launched a massive housing project aimed at the poor 234,000 residents of the Kilamba Kiaxi district. The project, now completed, serves all 234,000 denizens of Kilamba Kiaxi, boasts 710 apartment buildings with over 20,000 units, 246 shops, 24 kindergartens, 17 primary & middle schools, as well as power stations, water supply centers, sewage treatment plants, and all the necessary infrastructure to nurture a model society.
Even though the project was handled by a Chinese firm, over 10,000 jobs were created for local Kilambans in the process. So, just how much did this grand project, fit to sustain 234,000 people, cost the public? A mere $3.5 Billion, a large portion of which went to local salaries and returned to the system. $3.5 Billion is only 4% of the Angolan GDP, and it will take a relative chunk to do the same in Somalia, which is a small price to pay for skipping the entire process of industrialism to create a highly-developed way of life for 200,000+ of your people at one time.
But, the impatient nomads ask, how long did it all take? The project, announced in 2008, formally started in 2009, was completed in the Summer of 2011. That’s a grand total of just two years it took to house a population the size of Beletweyn, or Bosaso, or Galkayo, or Burao, or Kismayo–and not just house, but in conditions that parallel Western living. Just two years!
This is something every Somali should hear. They should know that their entire nation can be made to look like Sweden in a mere half-decade! What took twenty-odd years to destroy can be rebuilt and made ten times better in half a decade. The time it takes to watch a small child learn to walk, talk, eat, and ‘potty’ on their own, is how long it will take to make Somalia look like Japan. That is, if we are to follow the juggernaut way of construction–which in the case of broken Somalia is a must–then Somalia can definitely be built to modern standards in five years if Kilamba Kiaxi-esque projects are launched simultaneously in every town and city.
Before you question me, take a look for yourselves. I’ve pulled up two photos of Kilamba Kiaxi. The first photo is a satellite image of Kilamba Kiaxi from 1/13/2009, in which there is only the faintest sign that material preparation has begun, and the second picture is 6/24/2010, and you can see that the work is almost complete. If we are to assume that construction began in the middle of 2009, and ended in 2011–then there is your definitive proof that construction miracles do exist, and that Somalis won’t have to wait for salvation to be delivered. And if you don’t believe me on Kilamba Kiaxi, open up Google Earth if you have it (and it’s free here) and check for yourself.
Of course, this entire reality hangs on the balance of oil and the rate at which financial incentives are rolled out (and for the record, loans are rumored to have already been dished out to both Puntland and the TFG).
