The Al Noor Twin City project, also known as “the city of light,” is a mega city announced in 2007 as a joint project between the countries of Yemen and Djibouti. It was to include an ‘eco-city’ on each side of the Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb linking the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea. These new cities would be connected by what would be the largest suspension bridge on earth should it be constructed. The intent behind the project was to physically link The Horn of Africa with the Arabian Peninsula by road, rail and pipeline. By 2025, Djibouti’s Noor City was planned to have 2.5-million residents and its Yemeni twin 4.5-milion inhabitants. Several million jobs would be created, and an airport serving both cities would attract 100 million passengers a year. The project was launched at a moment when Djibouti was acutely short of water, and imported nearly all of its food to provide for 150,000 residents who were “facing imminent starvation.” At present, no new infrastructure, or trace of a city exists in the planned location of Al Noor, or across the Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb in Yemen.
