The Hindu Business Line : L&T, Punj Lloyd join team for $200-b Al Noor project

This huge project, conceptualised by Sheikh Tarek Bin Laden, brother of Osama Bin laden, whose company Al Noor Holding Investment, will be responsible for its execution in phases to be spread over 12-15 years.

Santanu Sanyal

Djibouti (Africa), July 29

Two Indian firms, Larsen & Toubro and Punj Lloyd, figure in the list of several international companies that have teamed up to implement the multi-billion dollar construction project to be complete with two new modern cities, one each near Djibouti and the other at Yemen, and a massive rail-road-pipeline network across the Red Sea, connecting the two cities.

This was revealed here on Monday at a press conference where the project was formally announced. More than 200 journalists from nearly 80 countries attended the conference. The Prime Minister of Djibouti, Mr Dileita Mohamed Dileita, and the brother of Osama Bin Laden, Sheikh Tarek Awad Mohammed Bin Laden, among others, were present.

Expectations

Several top US companies as well as experts are believed to be closely associated with this huge project which has been conceptualised by Sheikh Tarek Bin Laden, whose company, Al NoorHolding Investment, will be responsible for its execution in phases to be spread over 12-15 years.

The estimated cost is more than $200 billion. Sheikh Tarek, however, declined to talk to the media. Later, talking to Business Line, Eng. Mohammed Ahmed Al Ahmed, CEO of Al Noor Holding Investment, expressed the hope that more Indian companies would come forward to participate in the project.

“We’ve to mop up resources, both technical and others, from all over the world and we have already received encouraging response from leading international firms,” he said.

Gearing up

“Funds will be no constraint.” Al Noor Alliance, which has already been formed, is a group of about 50 world-class companies, including India’s L&T and Punj Lloyd, to be responsible for the management of this project. The representatives of the Indian members of the Alliance, however, were not immediately available in the conference for comment.

Connecting continents

“We are planning to connect just not two cities but the two continents, the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, and to open an entirely new trade route between Africa and the West Asia, which will also benefit the Indian sub-continent,” Mr Mohammed Ahmed Al Ahmed observed.

The Prime Minister of Djibouti, in his, speech, reaffirmed his government’s commitment to the project. “Now that the project is to be shortly launched from Djibouti, we’ll extend full support to it,” he said.

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