By Ahmed A. Yusuf

Somalia’s Federal Minister of Public Works, Reconstruction and Housing, Ayuub Ismail Yusuf, has announced the signing of an agreement for the design and technical studies of a major infrastructure project in Hargeisa, presenting it as part of the Federal Government’s broader programme to develop roads and urban infrastructure across Somalia. But that presentation leaves out a critical part of the story.

The Hargeisa investment is not a development project independently conceived and financed by the Federal Government in Mogadishu. It is part of the World Bank-financed Nagaad Project, and the World Bank’s additional financing framework specifically identifies Hargeisa as a beneficiary city.

That distinction matters—not merely as a technical detail, but because development finance should be presented to the public with accuracy and institutional clarity.

A World Bank Investment Specifically Allocated to Hargeisa

The World Bank’s project documentation identifies Hargeisa as the location for the expanded Nagaad investment and provides dedicated financing for urban infrastructure and related activities.

The additional financing includes US$20 million for urban infrastructure and US$1 million for urban analytics, with additional resources allocated for project management and institutional capacity.

The structure of the financing makes clear that the Hargeisa component was incorporated into the programme through World Bank-approved additional financing. It is therefore misleading to portray the investment as though Mogadishu independently decided to allocate a Federal Government development project to Hargeisa.

The Federal Government has a role within the wider Nagaad framework, but that role should not be confused with ownership of the financing or direct political ownership of the Hargeisa investment.

Who Is Actually Responsible for Implementation? The implementation arrangements are even more revealing. The World Bank framework provides for a dedicated Project Implementation Unit in Hargeisa to oversee procurement, implementation, day-to-day supervision and monitoring of the city’s investments.

The Federal Project Coordination Unit has a supporting and backstopping role, while an inter-ministerial steering mechanism for Somaliland is responsible for strategic oversight and guidance. UNOPS is also identified as a technical partner for engineering and supervision of civil works.

This institutional architecture does not resemble a conventional Federal Government construction project in which Mogadishu designs, finances and directly executes infrastructure in Somaliland.

Rather, it reflects a multilayered development arrangement in which the international financier provides the resources, local implementation structures oversee delivery, and federal institutions perform defined coordination and support functions. That distinction should be reflected honestly in public statements.

The 45-Kilometre Road Programme

Minister Ayuub has said the project will eventually cover approximately 45 kilometres of roads, divided into two phases. The first phase is expected to include approximately 23 kilometres of roads within Hargeisa, intended to improve mobility, strengthen connections between neighbourhoods and surrounding communities, and facilitate commercial activity.

The minister has also identified Buundaweyn, or the Great Bridge, as an important component of the first phase and put the cost of its rehabilitation or modernization at approximately US$20 million. That figure, however, should not automatically be interpreted as a separate World Bank allocation for the bridge itself.

The World Bank documentation identifies US$20 million for Hargeisa urban infrastructure investments overall. Unless the detailed project documentation specifically establishes a separate US$20 million allocation for Buundaweyn, public officials should avoid presenting the two figures as though they are necessarily identical.

Accuracy matters, particularly when public money and international development financing are involved.

Nagaad Is Not a Mogadishu-Owned Development Programme

The minister’s presentation also risks creating the impression that the Federal Government is single-handedly extending its infrastructure programme across all Somali territories. The reality is considerably more complex.

Nagaad—the Somali name associated with the Somalia Urban Resilience Project Phase II (SURP-II)—is a World Bank-supported programme designed to strengthen urban infrastructure and municipal service delivery.

Its broader portfolio has included investments in roads, drainage, pedestrian infrastructure and other urban services, alongside efforts to strengthen municipal institutional capacity. The programme has operated across several Somali cities, with implementation arrangements adapted to the institutional and administrative circumstances of each location.

The inclusion of Hargeisa in the expanded programme should therefore be understood as an extension of a World Bank-supported development programme, not as proof that the Federal Government has assumed direct responsibility for Somaliland’s urban development.

Why Political Credit Matters

Some may argue that this is merely a question of semantics. It is not. In development policy, financing, ownership, implementation and accountability are distinct concepts.

If the World Bank provides the financing, Hargeisa has a dedicated implementation structure, and federal institutions perform coordination or support functions, then describing the entire project as a Federal Government initiative risks obscuring who actually financed and is responsible for delivering the investment.

This is particularly sensitive in Somaliland, whose political and administrative institutions operate separately from the Federal Government in Mogadishu. The issue is therefore not whether Hargeisa deserves better roads and bridges. It unquestionably does.

Nor is it whether federal institutions can have a legitimate role in an internationally financed programme. They can, depending on the financing and implementation arrangements.

The issue is whether political officials should transform a World Bank-financed investmentspecifically structured for Hargeisa into a narrative of Federal Government largesse.

Development Finance Should Not Become Political Messaging

International development assistance is intended to deliver measurable improvements in people’s lives—not to provide political ammunition to competing authorities. When governments announce donor-funded projects, the public deserves to know four basic things:

Who financed the project? Who approved it? Who is implementing it? And who is accountable for the results? Those questions are particularly important where political authority is contested.

In the case of the Hargeisa investment, the World Bank’s project framework provides considerably more detail than the minister’s announcement. It identifies Hargeisa as the beneficiary city, provides dedicated financing for the urban investment, establishes a local implementation mechanism and assigns federal structures defined coordination and support responsibilities.

That is very different from suggesting that Mogadishu independently designed, financed and is directly implementing the project.

The Minister Owes the Public Clarity

Minister Ayuub’s announcement should therefore be viewed through a broader principle of public accountability. Federal officials have every right to highlight Somalia’s infrastructure needs and to explain the role of federal institutions in coordinating development programmes. But international financing should not be repackaged in ways that exaggerate the Federal Government’s direct contribution or obscure the institutional arrangements established by the financier.

Hargeisa’s residents deserve the roads, bridges and urban infrastructure promised under the project. They also deserve an accurate account of the investment.

The World Bank has allocated financing for Hargeisa under the expanded Nagaad programme. The project has its own implementation arrangements. Federal institutions have defined responsibilities within the broader framework. Those facts should not be blurred for political effect.

At a time when Somalia’s political institutions are already divided over questions of federal authority, constitutional powers and relations between Mogadishu and Somaliland, development projects should be handled with greater transparency, not greater political spin.

The real achievement will not be who receives the political credit. It will be whether the people of Hargeisa ultimately receive the roads, bridges and urban services they were promised—and whether those responsible for delivering them can be held accountable for the results.

Ahmed A. Yusuf
Email: aayuusuf44@gmail.com