Local company will seek foreign investment for project
MANAMA: Tunisia has started to build a new airport near the capital Tunis at a total cost of around 585 million Tunisian dinars ($488 million) to cash in on the growing tourism industry in the Arab state, the Tunisian envoy to Bahrain said.
Ambassador Mohammed Iouiti said that the airport would be the biggest in Tunisia, which now has seven international airports, and comes as part of a five-year development plan that began in 2002 and will end in 2006.
He said the airport will be constructed on the Mediterranean coast by a Tunisian company, and will be completed in 2006.
“Certainly, the airport needs foreign investment. The company may seek help from foreign companies,” Iouiti said when asked who is going to finance the project. He declined to give further details.
“The airport will have an initial capacity of 5 million passengers in the first year, rising to 30 million passengers when the project is
completed,” Iouiti said in an interview at the Tunisian embassy.
“The new Al-Wassat Airport is located in Enfidha Ville,” he said. “It is just between the cities of Hammamet and Sousse and will be the biggest airport in the country.
“The building of the airport is aimed at easing pressure on the Tunis International Airport, extend travel facilities to nearby tourist areas, and providing better services to tourists, especially to European tourists visiting Tunisia,” he said.
The town of Hammamet is 60 kilometers south of the Tunisian capital Tunis and Sousse is 130 kilometers to the South East.
Both are major tourist attraction sites for the Europeans.
The North African country attracted 4.9 million tourists, mainly from Europe, in 2003, and Iouiti said that current indications show the number of tourists visiting Tunisia will rise by at least five percent in 2004.
“This year will be much better than last year,” he said.
In 2002, Tunisia, like many other tourist destinations, suffered from the global economic slowdown and the fallout from the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.
An April 2002 bomb attack on a synagogue in Tunisia added to the effect.
Officials said the number of visitors to Tunisia fell by around 20 percent in 2002 from around 5 million in 2001.
Because Tunisia is close to the European Union, most of its tourists come from European countries such as Greece, Italy and France.
Iouiti also said that a 140 kilometer highway was being constructed to link the cities of Msaken and Sfax, the country’s second biggest city situated 130 kilometers south of Tunis, as part of the government’s efforts to link major population centers.
“Tunisia has allocated 1.691 billion Tunisian dinars ($1.4 billion) to develop and build new roads in the 10th five-year plan which started in 2002,” Iouiti said.
Tunisia has initiated several similar five-year plans since it gained independence in 1956 despite its limited financial resources.
The geographical location of Tunisia has also prompted strong bilateral trade ties with the European Union, especially given that Tunisia has a partnership trade agreement with the European body.
Official figures showed that Tunisian exports to the European Union are worth $7 billion a year, and its imports from the European Union are worth $9 billion annually.
Iouiti has complained of poor trade exchanges between his country and Arab states, and has called for the setting up of direct and reliable transportation links with Bahrain and other Gulf Arab states to boost trade.
Currently, there are no direct sea, air or road links between Tunisia and Gulf Arab states. Anyone wish to travel to Tunisia has to stop over in a third country like Cairo and Damascus.
“This is a major barrier to stimulating trade,” Iouiti said.
In contrast, Morocco has direct air links with several Gulf Arab states, including Bahrain. This is mainly because thousands of Moroccans
work in the Gulf region.
Tunisia last month staged a week-long road show and exhibition in Bahrain in a bid to reverse the trend and promote its products, including the tourism industry, in the small Arab kingdom.
Bankers say the Tunisian market is promising, and at least one bank is putting more investment into the North African country.
An official at the Bahrain-based Arab Banking Corp (ABC), one of the biggest in the Middle East, said last week that the bank plans to open five new branches in Tunisia in the second half of 2004 as part of its drive to expand its business in the Arab world.
The official said the bank has awarded a French company a deal to map out and design the branches, but neither named the firm nor gave further details.
An ABC official has said that a total of around 20 branches for the bank will be opened in Tunisia in the next five years.
Abbas Salman
© The Daily Star 2004
