$110 million UAE support for Socotra Island
English - Sunday 01 August 2021 الساعة 09:35 am
Aden, NewsYemen:
The total UAE aid provided to Socotra Island (southeast of Yemen) from 2015 to 2021 amounted to more than $110 million, according to official reports and data.
The Emirati support was the most prominent factor in overcoming "Socotra" for many of the challenges and humanitarian conditions it faced during the period from 2015 until today.
The UAE has implemented vital projects in Socotra, including the project to rehabilitate and develop the airport and port, establish a university, link villages to an internal road network, restore bridges and build solar energy plants, as well as support the island's economy by developing the fishing and agricultural sector, financing and training productive families, in addition to rehabilitating schools and institutes.
The list of aid donors included the Emirates Red Crescent, the Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation for Humanitarian Works, the Sultan bin Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation for Humanitarian and Scientific Works, the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development, and the Waste Management Center - Abu Dhabi, according to WAM.
The UAE aid covered most of the vital sectors in the governorate, such as social and health services, commodity aid, transport and storage, education, the fishing sector, construction and civil development, power generation and supply, water and public health, in addition to supporting government work and civil society.
On the humanitarian side, the UAE provided large amounts of food and relief aid to the people of Socotra, while work was done to develop the region by providing vehicles and civilian cars with the aim of strengthening the transportation sector on the island, especially for operations related to the transportation of water and fuel, in addition to providing logistical services on the island.
Rehabilitation and development of the airport and port
The UAE aid also contributed to the development and rehabilitation of Socotra Airport to enhance its role in serving the development path in the archipelago, in addition to facilitating transportation to and from the island. Two VIP lounges, and separate lounges for sorting and inspecting baggage.
In a related context, the UAE supported efforts to rehabilitate and develop Socotra Port by adding a 90-meter berth and increasing the draft to a depth of four and a half meters to anchor large ships, in addition to building solar power stations.
The medical section
On the health side, the UAE has contributed to raising the efficiency of the sector on the island by supporting and operating hospitals and medical centers, providing medical equipment and ambulances, constructing an emergency building and providing it with the latest equipment, two operating rooms, 13 beds, and a recovery room in accordance with international standards, in addition to the expansion of Sheikh Khalifa Hospital and the increase in the number of beds. Patients increased to 42 beds, in addition to equipping 4 beds in the intensive care department, adding a dialysis unit that includes 5 dialysis devices, preparing CT scans with 16 devices, and adding specialties that are the first of their kind in urology, emergency, heart and kidney surgery, in addition to a mobile clinic for the people of the regions remote.
energy sector
In the electricity and water sector, the UAE has established 4 power stations, changed the aerial network to a ground one, distributed generators to remote villages, inaugurated a distribution network for more than 30 sites, and provided streets with solar-powered lighting, as well as constructing two solar power stations in Hadibo. With a capacity of 2.2 megawatts and in Qalansiya with a capacity of 800 kilowatts, the installation of water tank sterilization stations, the installation and construction of new tanks with a capacity of 50,000, the supply of wells with electric generators, in addition to the drilling of 48 artesian wells and the installation of pumps to extract water using solar energy.
Infrastructure
At the level of development projects, the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development supported the island with a package of projects that included the construction and reconstruction sectors, important roads, the construction of a drinking water station, the financing of a solar power plant project, a project to manufacture and provide shipping boats, and the fund also contributed to providing advisory services on the island.
At the level of Socotra governorate offices, the Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation for Humanitarian Works supported the governorate office by introducing a new financial and administrative system, establishing an information and statistics unit to raise efficiency and control over financial and administrative work, supporting the Public Health Office by providing needs and raw materials, supporting the hygiene office and community campaigns, and supporting and developing an office Customs, endowments, organizing work, increasing coordination and reviewing work mechanisms, which contributed to an increase in tax revenue by 300 percent, in addition to the endowments office and port management.
As for the fishermen’s support, support was provided to the Fisheries Cooperative Union and 27 fishermen’s associations, the establishment of anchoring areas and buildings for fishermen’s associations, the maintenance of the fisheries buildings complex, which includes 8 buildings, including a large fish market with an area of 4,000 square meters, the development of the fish factory to accommodate 500 tons per month and the employment of 500 people from The people of the island, providing 30 fishing boats, 10 refrigerators for storing fish in the fishermen’s marinas, and 13 insulators for transporting fish, in addition to supporting the public transport and maritime transport sector in the governorate by providing 4 school transport buses for students and contracting with 15 buses to transport students in the deserts.
Education sector
In the education sector, the UAE provided educational scholarships for university studies, where 80 male and female students were sent to study in Egypt and 40 male and female students to study at the UAE University, in conjunction with other educational projects such as rehabilitating the governorate’s schools, maintaining and restoring them, and building new classrooms for various educational levels, while the Socotra Institute for Consultation and Training was opened. Rehabilitation of all cadres of the province and government agencies.
The UAE has supplemented the education sector on the island by appointing teachers from abroad, contracting with about 440 teachers on the island’s level, bringing in 17 teachers from Egypt in scientific disciplines, in addition to organizing remedial lessons for high school students, opening two laboratories in the governorate, opening Ataya Model School and printing 227 thousand textbooks for all students. The stages, as well as sponsoring cultural and scientific competitions for students, establishing and establishing the University of the Socotra Archipelago, and opening two faculties to start studying in 2021
humanitarian relief
On the relief side, the Emirati institutions accompanied the situation on the island by distributing various relief materials to those affected by the complex humanitarian situation, as relief was provided to the victims of cyclones "Mekunu" and "Shabla", construction and restoration of the stricken houses, and the establishment of 161 housing units in Zayed City and 21 housing units in the "Dafarho" area. Residential units in “Zahiq” and “Diksum” areas, and 51 housing units in “Arashani” area, in addition to the program of distributing food baskets and material aid to needy cases in all areas.
Social Affairs
The aspects of the assistance included many aspects with social and religious dimensions, as the UAE supported projects for a fasting person to eat breakfast over the past years, and also supported projects to rehabilitate the homes of the Most Merciful by maintaining mosques on the island and supervising the provision of energy and water sources to them. In the same context, the UAE continued to help those who are about to marry By organizing mass weddings, which amounted to 4 weddings, they contributed to strengthening families' stability and facilitating young people who are about to get married.
The UAE provided financial support to retirees and supported special social cases, who numbered 1,500 families, in addition to organizing many seasonal initiatives in the cultural aspect, such as cultural, heritage and sports festivals, and supporting productive families.
It also supervised and supported the establishment of sports activities by rehabilitating sports clubs and holding events, festivals and competitions such as the league and cup competitions at the level of football, beach soccer and beach volleyball, in addition to rehabilitating and training the Football Association administration, administrators, coaches and referees, and setting up the Socotra poet festival, the fall of Nojd, the Corniche marathon, the Ironman Championship and the camel race .
Support projects for productive families
The Emirates also supported the projects of productive families, supervised the rehabilitation of these families and women’s associations, distributed sewing machines, conducted courses for girls, participated in heritage festivals in the Emirates, worked on establishing a mother and child center, supported environmental diversity, planted roads, and combated loggers, and established farms totaling 31 hectares, as well as training farmers, establishing a harem farm, and providing 80% of the governorate’s agricultural needs and the establishment of a nursery for the production of vegetable and fruit seedlings to be distributed to interested farmers, to support palm farmers with the required vaccines, to purchase their products, and to distribute these dates on the relief side.
