Aden’s Salt Establishment [Archives:2006/921/Business & Economy]
By: Yemen Times Staff
Aden Bureau
The name of the city of Aden has long been associated with the sea and its beautiful seaport. It possesses a strategic location and is surrounded by mountains on all sides. This encouraged many Western countries to occupy Aden, which Britain did in its January 19, 1839 invasion of the city.
During its 129-year occupation, Britain built Aden's infrastructure, paying much attention to the port by rehabilitating it to receive large ships to benefit its own interests.
As Aden became associated with its port, it also became associated with the salt industry, of which Aden is considered one of the first cities famed for salt production. In 1886, the Italian Salt Company built special basins to produce salt in an area called Al-Mamlah, the remains of which still stand. There are still ruins of canals, bridges and windmills, inside of which are wooden barrels and straps – resembling waterwheels – for carrying seawater. The Italian salt factory remains still exist on the eastern side of Al-Mamlah.
In 1908, the Indian-Adeni company built the state Salt Establishment's present site on the Aden International Airport side. Following 1967 independence, a presidential decree was issued concerning the Salt Establishment aimed at modernizing and repairing salt basins and increasing production capacity from 20,000 to 150,000 tons.
Personnel worked hard to preserve the Salt Establishment and its assets, as well as produce high quality salt. Thus, it earned several bronze and gold prizes, the latest of which was the 2001 European gold prize. The Salt Establishment also annually contributed millions of Riyals to the state budget from salt revenues, as well as employed 120 workers, including 50 daily wage employees.
The establishment plans to build a $2 million salt refining unit, which will help it better develop, as well as increase the number of salt basins to 60 instead of the present 35.
Despite all the gains and efforts of the Salt Establishment as one of the best public sector institutions, it faces a number of difficulties for which the state cannot find solutions. The corrupt Aden land mafia has seized some establishment land to build a petrol station within the salt basin area, disregarding the negative environmental impact such a station will cause by poisoning citizens, as salt is a substance for human consumption. In return, the Salt Establishment has filed a lawsuit against building the petrol station there, but the case has not yet been decided.
The Salt Establishment recently received a directive to transfer it and all its assets to the Yemeni Economic Establishment's Aden branch, which will manage it. One wonders why such action was taken, whether the Salt Establishment failed to run at the required level or whether it simply faces what is occurring at Aden container port, which until now is in a state of confusion.
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