Turkish contractor Metag Holding has signed an agreement to expand the ancient Somali port of Hobyo, Kenyan newspaper The Star reports.

Metag’s deal with the Hobyo Investment Company will see it run the port for 80 years.

The aim is to turn the small settlement of 11,000 people into a regional trade hub to offer Ethiopia an alternative outlet to Djibouti, and to decongest the port of Mogadishu.

It will also give Somalia better access to markets for its principal exports: livestock destined for the Middle East, bananas and other agricultural produce.

The Hobyo project has been under discussion for a number of years. In 2020, GCR reported that a Qatar-backed project had been superseded by a public-private plan, which resulted four years later in the Metag contract.

If the port and an associated economic zone do go ahead, it will help to cement the position of the state of Galmadug, which has tense relations with the federal government in Mogadishu and the state of Puntland to the north.

The federal government is currently trying to disarm clan militias.