The contracting and construction sector in Yemen are now breathing easily and have seen a revival following threats of collapse and total disappearance from the local economic cycle. The current crises in Yemen had left major impacts; the more tragic ones were evident in the contracting sector, where contractors were pushed into the brink of bankruptcy and almost joined the cues for the poor and the unemployed.

To the Rescue

Today, smiles have returned for a broad section of contractors. They have resumed their activities vigorously to implement various types of projects: Leveling and compacting of roads, school renovations, construction of rainwater harvesting reservoirs, sanitation and sewerage services, and others. Many of these projects carry an inherent objective to protect the contracting sector from collapse, as well as, creation of a decent living for Yemenis, especially those who have been affected by the current conflict and forced to leave their homes and villages in search for safety and security.

Abdul-Hamid Jaber, who is in his forties, and hail from one of the districts of the Governorate of Sana’a, works in the contracting sector together with his brothers. They inherited this business from their father and have sustain the business as their profession due its attractive returns. They are amongst the fortunate few who have been able to resume their activities and practice contracting by bidding for projects and winning the bids over competitors. This has restored hopes for the family for maintaining their livelihood and their assets: heavy machinery, mid-sized equipment, transport vehicles, and others, which have been acquired over decades of devotion and diligent work in the business of contracting.

 Contractor Abdul-Hameed Jaber didn’t expect that one day he would become penniless, unable to pay the rent for his office. Neither did he expect that the situations will force him to offer his equipment for sale at half of its real value. The current crises and on-going conflict had forced Abdul-Hameed and hundreds like him in contracting companies to shutter, sell their assets, and lay-off their workers. All this happened so suddenly, as they were making good profits and had employed thousands of people in all parts of Yemen.

Abdul-Hameed explains the impact of the current crises on him as a contractor. He draws on his experience as an example; saying that it got to the point where he couldn’t afford operating his own car. But, people around him didn’t change their expectation of him, especially his workers who consider him to be in a better situation. They continued to look up to him for help, unaware that the once successful contractor is now selling his equipment at half of its value and has exhausted all his savings.

Urgent Intervention

Late 2016 and the start of 2017, the World Bank initiated funding for the Yemen Emergency Crises Response Program, YECRP, first phase at the amount of US$50 million. The program was to be administered by the UNDP in partnership with reputable local institutions, well-known for their efficiency and capabilities - the PWP, which received $15 million, and other institutions. This was the first experience of its kind for the World Bank in areas of conflict. The PWP contributed to the project by implementing various sub-projects under the YECRP in support for World Bank efforts. The sub-projects aimed at supporting livelihoods and provide basic services for the population suffering from the hardship caused by the current situation. They also contributed in the improvement of households and local communities’ resilience and decent livelihoods. In addition, the YECRP contributed to assist IDPs host local communities to deal with economic and social pressure on the already stretched local resources, supporting local economies through development of local communities, and support for local contractors in the private sector. The YECRP has had a huge positive impact on the local contracting sector by helping the sector to cope with the situation, pulling it out of the stagnancy that has afflicted the Yemeni economy at large, and lead to an overall halt of activities and services.

Indicators

The success of the World Bank’s local partners, such as the PWP, in the achievement of the objectives of the parent funding for the YECRP, far exceed the planned indicators. The local partners performed the task in an efficient and transparent manner, encouraging the World Bank to provide additional funding for the program. But this time around, the funding was five times more than that of the parent funding: In March 2017, the World Bank agreed to provide an additional grant to finance the YECRP worth US$150 million. US$70 million of the amount was allocated to the PWP to continue the accelerated support for improving decent livelihoods. The PWP succeeded in creating nearly 1.1 million work day and handled 1445 sub-project at a total cost of US$97 million covering the education, water and agriculture, street and road paving, and sewerage and sanitation services. 871 sub-projects were completed at a total cost of US$53.4 million benefiting nearly 2 million people.
All of these sub-projects are strongly linked to the daily lives of the Yemeni people, such as water supply, rehabilitation of schools, paving of roads, sewerage and sanitation, and land protection and agriculture - and aimed at creating short-term employment for the biggest number of skilled and unskilled labor, especially under the current circumstances in the country. The PWP achieve these goals as it endeavored to implement the overall objectives of the YECRP.

Success

The PWP, in implementing the YECRP, has succeeded in creating community assets, improved community infrastructure. At the same time, the PWP has created short-term employment for labor, and implemented small-scale infrastructure and labor-intensive sub-projects. The PWP implements the sub-projects by contracting local private sector contractors in areas such as: rainwater harvesting, land protection, agriculture and irrigation, stone paving of access roads and streets, water supply, sewerage and sanitation, rehabilitation of local schools, and others. The sub-projects are selected on the basis of priorities and needs identified by target local communities.