The Saudi program for the development and reconstruction of Yemen launched the "Adequate Housing" project in collaboration with the internationally recognized Yemeni government on Tuesday, aimed at rehabilitating 600 homes for low-income families affected by the war in the city of Aden in southern Yemen, with a cost of two million dollars. Yemeni Deputy Minister of Public Works, Mohammed Ahmed Thabet, told Reuters that the project targets four of Aden’s eight districts: Al-Ma'la, Khormaksar, Dar Saad, and Sirah.
He mentioned that the project, funded by the Saudi program for the development and reconstruction of Yemen with two million dollars as the first phase, comes based on comprehensive studies and field surveys conducted by the Ministry of Public Works for all homes affected by the war, identifying the required needs according to a mechanism for selecting the most affected categories and housing units. He noted that the total number of homes and apartments damaged due to the Houthi war on Aden reaches 13,000.
Aden witnessed fierce battles in April 2015 between the Houthis and a coalition of the Yemeni government and southern resistance, supported by the Arab coalition forces led by Saudi Arabia, before the coastal city was restored in late July 2015, preparing it to be the temporary capital of the country and the headquarters for the internationally recognized presidency and government. The war caused widespread destruction of the infrastructure and residential and governmental buildings in Aden.
On Tuesday, the Saudi program organized a workshop in Aden with the participation of relevant government bodies in Yemen to launch the implementation of the "Adequate Housing" project in collaboration with the Alwaleed Philanthropies and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme. Saudi program director engineer Ahmed Madkhali stated that the project includes rehabilitating 150 homes in each district, benefiting four thousand people, and will create job opportunities for two hundred young people, as well as 1,600 new job opportunities during the project's implementation period.
The Yemeni government estimated in 2019 that economic losses due to the war amounted to about 50 billion dollars, while losses from the destruction of infrastructure reached tens of billions of additional dollars, according to a draft reconstruction and economic recovery priority plan for 2019-2020.
