After 12 years of delay, the Prime Minister inaugurates a project to equip 12 community colleges with funding from the Kuwait Fund

Prime Minister Dr. Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak launched today, Monday, in the interim capital, Aden, a project to equip 12 community colleges in the Republic of Yemen, funded by the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development, at a cost of more than $57 million.

The Yemeni News Agency, Saba, reported that “the project, which the government recently worked to resolve the problems that have hindered its implementation since the signing of the loan agreement in February 2012, includes equipping community colleges in Aden, Taiz, Marib, Al Dhale’e, Sharab, Al Hajr, Sayoun, Socotra, Amran, Abs, Ash Shihr, and Shabwa.”

In the launch event, which was held under the slogan (For Qualified and Productive Youth), the Prime Minister presented in his speech what the government has done to solve the problems of the project’s stumbling blocks, as part of its ongoing efforts to mobilize the troubled loans and aid from the development funds and benefit from them in development projects and high-value investment programs.

He explained that among his five priorities that he has been working on since he was assigned to head the government is maximizing the benefit from the available funding to support the Yemeni people.

Bin Mubarak identified the reasons for the failure of a number of projects, whether technical, administrative, financial, security, or other, and the vision of dealing with them and developing solutions to overcome this failure, especially since it touches on vital issues in roads, bridges, sewage, and others.

He explained that there are 76 stalled projects worth more than 5 billion dollars, including 24 projects for technical and administrative reasons, and 41 of these projects are in the liberated governorates.

He pointed out that Yemen's capacity to absorb pledges in 2006 was 37 percent, which is a small percentage that must be addressed responsibly despite the current exceptional challenges.

The Prime Minister stressed the need to take responsibility to address the issue of stalled project implementation and rise to the level of challenges and ambitions, noting that this project represents a glimmer of hope and a model that can be built upon in addressing stalled projects, and that when state institutions move in an integrated and harmonious manner, they can achieve accomplishment.

Ben Mubarak said that this project, which will include equipping college laboratories for more than 26 medical, engineering and technical specializations in a scientific and technical revolution, is the first in the history of the Republic in terms of the targeted geographical area covered by the project or the number of specializations and the type of programs it will finance.

He explained that the establishment of technical community colleges in the early nineties came within the framework of achieving the goal of harmonizing higher education outcomes with development requirements and labor market needs.

He stressed the government's belief that technical community colleges play an important and pivotal role in economic and social life, as they are one of the main tools in forming human cadres and the most important mechanisms used to combat poverty and achieve sustainable development.

He said, "This type of education also creates many job opportunities in various economic sectors. Therefore, this type of education must be characterised by flexibility and rapid development in line with economic and social developments and the nature of rapid technological transformations and the information revolution."

He pointed out that providing sufficient funding for such educational projects will enhance job opportunities for young people and work to eliminate poverty and unemployment, and thus young people will engage in development instead of heading towards the cycle of violence, extremism and terrorism.

He praised the fraternal roles of the State of Kuwait and its fraternal stances alongside the Yemeni people over the past decades and the effective impact of its projects in vital sectors, expressing his hope that we will soon witness the inauguration of the Sheikh Salem Al-Sabah Community College project on Socotra Island.

For their part, the Minister of Higher Education, Scientific Research, Technical Education and Vocational Training, Dr. Khaled Al-Wasabi, the Dean of the Community Word in Socotra, and the representative of the company supplying equipment to the Community College, addressed the importance of this project, which will constitute a turning point in technical education in Yemen.

They explained that the project includes five main groups, including the supply, installation, operation and training of the Department of Allied Medical Sciences, which includes nine specializations, and the Department of Engineering Sciences, which includes fourteen specializations.

In addition to the Basic Sciences Department, which includes the specializations of management, computer science, information technology, and graphics, the fourth group of the project includes electric generators and the fifth group includes buses.