Garowe — The European Union is funding road rehabilitation projects in Puntland autonomous region of Somalia, according to a government agency director, Garowe Online reports.

Mr. Hassan Osman Ali, director of Puntland Highway Authority (PHA), received EU officers at his office in Garowe on Thursday.

Mr. Ali said he met with an infrastructure development expert for the EU, Mr. Paul Smith, and noted that the officials discussed the 750km paved road connecting Puntland port city of Bossaso to the city of Galkayo, in Mudug region.

Speaking on Radio Garowe, Mr. Ali said: "The EU delegation consisted of project specialists and discussions centered on rehabilitating the Bossaso-to-Galkayo paved highway."

The EU has pledged to support road projects in Puntland, a vast region in northern Somalia that the country's former central governments neglected to build adequate economic infrastructure, local officials say.

The tarmac highway requires major rehabilitation work, the PHA director said.