ADEN — The Saudi Development and Reconstruction Program for Yemen (SDRPY) has stepped up its efforts to renovate the Aden International Airport which was hit on Wednesday by a terrorist attack carried by Iran-backed Houthi militia, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Friday. The SDRPY has formed a team in coordination with the Yemeni government, local authorities to repair the airport following the attack that took place moments after members of the new Yemeni government arrived in the interim capital. An engineering team affiliated with the SDRPY comprising contractors, consultants, and technical experts was immediately dispatched to the explosion site to assess the damage caused by the bombings to the airport building, which is the second-largest airport in the country after Sana'a airport. The team urgently intervened by removing the rubbles from the spot, harnessing its equipment and machinery to carry out all repair works required to be done, including infrastructure, electrical, mechanical, and sanitation works. The team surveyed the whole site to assess what to do during the upcoming days in order to make the airport operational in accordance with international standards at the earliest and to continue implementing the airport rehabilitation project in coordination with pertinent local authorities. General Supervisor of the SDRPY had signed a contract to implement the second phase of Aden International Airport rehabilitation project, earlier this week, at a cost of SR54.4 million, during a ceremony held, at the SDRPY headquarters, in Riyadh, in the presence of various Yemeni ministers, ambassadors of foreign countries, media men, and parties concerned with development affairs. The SDRPY had implemented the previous phase of the project in the past, as the first phase included providing requirements and emergency vehicles, while the second phase will work on rehabilitating the airport to contribute to becoming compatible with the regulations of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), in order to raise the efficiency of the transport sector, in the country, improve the airport's capacity and upgrade quality levels of its services. The SDRPY has also implemented as many as 193 projects, in 7 basic sectors, namely education, health, water, energy, transportation, agriculture and fisheries, and governmental capacity-building, as the SDRPY adopts the best practices of development, reconstruction, and intellectual leadership, in the field of sustainable development, in Yemen, to enhance historical, cultural and economic relationships between Saudi Arabia and Yemen.
