UPDATE 3-Bin Laden firm plans $200 bln Red Sea bridge, cities
June 2nd, 2008 | by admin |(Recasts, adds background)
By John Irish
DUBAI, June 2 (Reuters) - A property firm owned by a Saudibusinessman from the bin Laden family plans to spearhead a $200billion project next year to connect Africa to the ArabianPeninsula with a bridge across the Red Sea, the region’s largestinfrastructure project by far.
Dubai-based Middle East Development, in which Osama binLaden’s half brother Tarek owns a majority stake, will beginwork in 2009 on the project to build two cities in Djibouti andYemen and a 28.5 km (17.7 mile) bridge, a company official said.
“The bin Laden family is originally from Yemen … they wantto fight poverty, unemployment and connect the Gulf Arab regionwith Muslim Africa,” Issam Halabi, vice president for technicalaffairs, told reporters on the sidelines of a MEED conference inDubai on Monday.
The group will invest at least $10 billion in the projectand seek to raise the remainder from other investors andfinancial institutions.
The bridge, to be the development’s centrepiece, will carryvehicles, trains, natural gas and water, Halabi said.
The bridge aims to provide a safe route between the ArabianPeninsula and the Horn of Africa region as the waterway betweenthem is highly dangerous due to Somali pirates.
Somalia has been without an effective central governmentsince the 1991 toppling of a military dictator, allowing anarchyand violence to flourish.
