A PROPERTY firm owned by a member of the bin Laden family is planning a £100 billion project to connect Africa to the Arabian Peninsula with a bridge across the Red Sea.
Dubai-based Middle East Development, in which Osama bin Laden's half brother Tarek has a majority stake, will begin work in 2009 on the scheme to build two cities in Djibouti and Yemen and an 18-mile bridge.
Issam Halabi, the company's vice-presid
ent for technical affairs, said: "The bin Laden family is originally from Yemen…they want to fight poverty, unemployment and connect the Gulf Arab region with Muslim Africa."
The group will invest at least £5 billion in the project and seek to raise the rest from other investors and financial institutions.
The bridge, the centrepiece of the development, will carry vehicles, trains, natural gas and water, Mr Halabi said.
The crossing aims to provide a safe route between the Arabian Peninsula and the Horn of Africa region, as the waterway between them is highly dangerous due to Somali pirates. Somalia has been without an effective central government since the 1991 toppling of a military dictator, allowing anarchy and violence to flourish.
Cowi, of Denmark, the consultant on the world's longest, planned causeway linking Qatar with Bahrain, is advising on the bridge, which
will cost £7 billion, with the entire scheme to be built in phases over seven to 15 years.
The company aims to house as many as five million people in Yemen and 1.5 million in Djibouti under the project. The "Noor" cities will include residential, commercial, healthcare and entertainment areas, and create about a million jobs.
Yemen, one of the world's poorest countries, has faced unrest over unemployment and rising prices, and fighting between government forces and Shiite Muslim rebels.
The full article contains 309 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
