The Libyan government is planning to build $94bn of housing, power and water projects over the next 20 years in an effort to modernise its ageing infrastructure network.

According to Brian Evans, vice-president of Middle East projects for US-based Aecom, who was speaking at MEED’s Libya Briefing Day conference on 27 April, there are currently 256 projects ongoing in the country, with another 300 expected to be launched by 2020. Most of the development is expected to come from the government’s Housing and Infrastructure Board (HIB) programme, which aims to build some 200,000 homes and 146 infrastructure projects worth an estimated $50bn.

Under the HIB programme, Libya is planning to develop 26 large-scale housing projects that will offer an estimated 115,000 units and house around 625,000 people. The additional 85,000 homes will come from restoring and building small-scale settlements throughout the rural southern districts.

The two HIB projects currently under execution are the estimated $415m Ghira project, which will provide 2,000 homes and the estimated $93m infrastructure works project in Al-Azharat. The Ghira project is scheduled for completion in 2012, while infrastructure in Al-Azharat should be finished by 2013.      

The HIB programme’s 146 infrastructure projects include:

• 10 million square-metres of roads
• 1,200km of sewage pipes
• 1,300km of water pipes
• 2,000km of water storm pipes
• 1,000km of electrical conduit
• 1,000km of telecoms conduit
• 714 pumping stations (sewage, water and storm)

Under its infrastructure remit, HIB is also planning to build 173 sewage treatment plants, with a total capacity of 1.3 million cubic-metres.

The construction of Tripoli’s 24-kilometre Third Ring Road is also a HIB priority. The road will include 13 interchanges, 14 pedestrian bridges and 11 vehicle bridges.   

Other large-scale government initiatives include a $22bn strategy to create a state-of-the-art rail and port network. Industrial development will require an investment of around $5bn and modernising Tripoli’s existing transportation network will cost $1bn.

Libya’s government is also overseeing two private housing projects being built by a joint venture of the local Alinmaa Construction and Real Estate and Lebanon’s Optimum Holding. The projects – one urban and the other coastal – are worth an estimated $16bn.