Saudi businessman asks president to rescue his investment [Archives:2003/664/Local News]

Ibb, August 30 – An investor based in Saudi Arabia has said in a letter addressed to President Ali Abdullah Saleh last week that he lost YR 20 million while trying to invest in Yemen. In his letter, Ahmed Rajeh Mohammed Hussein said that he bought a piece of land in Ibb in the early 1990s, but after he started construction, his land was taken from him by two Yemeni men, with the support of military and police officers.
“After you called upon investors to come to Yemen and after you said you would encourage them to invest by carrying out necessary measures, we decided to start our investment in Yemen and bought a piece of land to build a hotel in the city of Ibb, We announced a bid and after paying 40% of the cost of construction, we were approached by two men who stopped construction using soldiers and policemen I plead to you to protect my investment so I can continue building the project, which has been running in loss of YR 20 million so far.” he said in his letter.
Similar difficulties facing investors in Yemen have been reported lately and observers attribute such difficulties to the improper implementation of investment regulations and the weak enforcement of law. Corruption in courts and public administrative sectors is also seen to be a factor that discourages investment in Yemen, and consequently results in decisions of investors to move their projects to other countries where they can be protected and feel more secure.
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