UK investment group to inject $320m into Berbera port upgrade

The UK development finance agency CDC Group has said it will be investing over $300 million in Berber Port to transform the Somaliland-based port into a significant water transport hub in the region.

In a media interview, CDC Investment Director Richard Charlton said the firm had identified Berbera port to benefit from its $1.72 billion ports investment in Africa. Other ports are Ain Sokhna in Egypt and Dakar port in Senegal.

The CDC will own minority stakes in the three ports.

“The investment we are announcing today is part of our partnership with DP World to invest in Africa, with ports in Senegal, Sokhna in Egypt and Berbera in Somaliland,” Charlton said.

“DP World is contributing its stakes in the three existing ports initially and expects to invest a further $1 billion through the platform over the next several years. CDC is committing approximately $320 million initially and expects to invest up to a further $400 million over the next several years,” a joint statement from CDC and DP World read in part.

Charlton said the investment would boost Berbera Port’s productivity and, at the same time, play a key role in Somaliland’s economic growth and create jobs for more than one million Somalilanders.

“We are assisting DP World in expanding the Berbera Port, logistics, access to the Berbera Corridor and developing and accelerating the operations of the Berbera Port, and we believe that by 2035 the port will generate business activity equal to 6% of Somaliland’s economic growth,” Charton noted. The investment will also create jobs for 1.6 million people in Somaliland.