Over $13.4 billion losses in sector due to aggression, blockade: Transport Ministry

The Ministry of Transport and its affiliated bodies and institutions said on Monday that the total amount of direct and indirect damages and losses caused as a result of the aggression and blockade from March 2015 to March 2023 amounted to 13,442,851,000 dollars.

The Minister of Transport, Abdulwahhab Al-Durra, said in a press conference organized by the Ministry of Transport on the 8th anniversary of the National Resilience Day, that the US-backed Saudi-led aggression coalition targeted the infrastructure of the various transport sectors in order to stop the operation of ports, airports, land crossings and sea routes.

Al-Durra pointed out that since the implementation of the humanitarian truce and the periods of calm that followed, the aggression coalition countries and their mercenaries are still continuing the economic blockade and impeding the full opening of airports and ports.

“The aggression coalition and its mercenaries are still practicing the worst methods and exchanging roles for not opening the Sanaa airport, by stopping Cairo flights since the beginning of the first truce and programming limited flights to Jordan, which led to the continued suffering of citizens by traveling by land,” the transport minister said.

He mentioned that the Civil Aviation Authority granted permits to Arab and local airlines to operate flights from Sanaa airport, but the aggression coalition and its mercenaries suspended the permits and threatened the companies to stop their flights to Aden airport.

The transport minister pointed out that the number of flights through Sanaa and Queen Alia airports during the 11 months of the armistice and calm period was 126, and a single flight to Cairo, during which no more than 67,000 passengers were transported. He noted that before the aggression, Sanaa airport received 50 flights per day, transporting 5,000 passengers per day, or 1.8 million passengers per year.

In turn, Head of the Land Transport Regulatory Authority, Walid Al-Wadaei, indicated that direct and indirect damages and losses to the land transport sector during eight years of aggression and blockade amounted to 890,276,000 dollars.

Al-Wadaei stated that the aggression coalition did not suffice with the siege to prevent medicine and fuel only, but also targeted 1,040 trucks transporting foodstuffs, 390 oil trucks, 10,290 different means of transport, and 7,293 bridges and roads.

For his part, the Undersecretary of the Civil Aviation and Meteorology Authority, Raed Jabal, indicated that the total direct and indirect damages and losses incurred by the air transport sector from the beginning of the aggression until the current March amounted to 6,870,027,000 dollars.

Jabal confirmed that the continuation of the ban on Sana’a airport is the cause of a great human tragedy, as the statistics of the Ministry of Health indicate the death of 120,000 sick cases, and more than 450,000 incurable cases that need to travel for treatment.

The Director of the Maritime Affairs Authority branch, Salah Al-Wazir, explained that the direct and indirect damages and losses incurred by maritime affairs sector during the eight years of aggression against Yemen amounted to 2,427,577,000 dollars. He expressed regret at the failure of the United Nations to install new cranes for the port of Hodeida instead of the cranes targeted by the aggression coalition.

In a statement issued at the conference, the Ministry of Transport condemned the continued restriction of flights at Sana’a Airport, limiting them to only three flights, as well as not allowing international airlines to carry out flights to and from Sana’a International Airport.

The ministry also condemned the decision of the Yemeni airlines in Aden to stop selling tickets for the (Sanaa-Amman-Sanaa) line through its offices and travel agents in Sana’a, stressing that this irresponsible decision exacerbates the suffering of the Yemeni citizens and impedes their travel abroad.

The Ministry of Transport held the “Yemenia” company’s leadership in Aden responsible for all the consequences of this arbitrary decision against the Yemeni people in general and patients in particular, who are waiting for an unknown fate for not lifting the siege.

In its statement, the ministry called on the United Nations and the international community to put pressure on the Saudi-Emirati aggression coalition countries to fully open Sana’a airport to all civil flights and to multiple destinations to provide humanitarian services to the Yemeni people, especially to countries where patients, students and expatriates go.

YPA