Eminent elder in Puntland calls for review of Bosaso port pact

A prominent elder in Puntland has called for a review of the contract between DP World’s P&O Ports concession approved by state assembly last year sensationally claiming the state president Abdiweli Gaas paid off the lawmakers to endorse the deal.

Coming in the wake of the controversial Berbera port agreement which has now degenerated into a diplomatic row between Somalia and UAE, Nabadoon Abdirahman Jaabiri told Goobjoog News the concession must be reviewed to allow public input.

“We have a major concern regarding the Bosaso port agreement given to DP World for 30 years,” said Jaabiri. “President Abdiweli Gaas paid MPs to pass the deal. We must review it.”

P&O Ports which is a subsidiary of DP World, a company in the centre of a controversial agreement in the neighboring Somaliland clinched the 30 year concession valued at $336 million last April giving the Emiratis a major stake in the management of the ports in the two regions.

Puntland handed over the Bosaso port to P&O Ports October last year in line with the concession agreement. Unlike the Berbera Port deal, there is no public information about the shareholding ratios in the Bosaso one.