Consultative workshop for Puntland road sector Decentralization Strategy

In the Capital of Puntland State of Somalia, Garowe, a broad-based meeting which brought together officials from the Ministry of Public Works and Transport, Puntland Highway Authority, Local government mayors and other JPLG partners organizations was held today. The one-day meeting aimed to facilitate profound discussions and share knowledge among intellectuals, local governance specialists, decentralization policy advisers and engineers from the Puntland Highway authority and districts on decentralized road act in Puntland.   

 “During the knowledge exchange sessions, I would like to open the floor for the participants to actively debate the act and the implementation modalities to enforce the act.  He has also encouraged the participants to relate the road policy to what can work for the local government ensuring policy remains guidance for road decentralization in Puntland. He has also requested the participants to generate an action plan allowing them to resister progress accordingly”    Mohamoud Abdi Awed, ILO’s Programme Officer in Puntland, detailed the significance of the act to decentralized local governance. He has underlined the role of ILO to be provider of technical guidance granted to local governance to take forward the agenda of the decentralization, notably delivering core services including roads, local economic development and employment, capacity development and policy directives prerequisite for decentralization. 

The JPLG Area Manager, Mohamed Ahmed Abase, has also stressed the significance of the road act to the mobility of goods, services and people and the broader economic development of the region. And this remains the justification, within the JPLG frame; to support road authorities to take forward streamlined road development activities. 

Finally Abdiqadir Sheikh Mohamud, Director General of the Ministry of Public Works, noted that road act will be a legacy for JPLG and it is the road actors, including local governments, not only own the act but to translate the active directives into actions that can be manifested into transport system development.Mayor of Garowe, Hassan Ahmed Isse, appreciated the relentless support provided to the districts by JPLG asserting that road act is fundamental to decentralization and service delivery. He assured the decentralization partners that local governments will now accelerate the implementation. 

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