You got it completely wrong. Many majeerteens claim this to explain their lack of development despite not being affected by the scale of destruction other clans experienced during the civil war.
Puntland did have infrastructure in place prior to the civil war. You can even say Puntland received the majority of investments in the regime's dying years. In 1988, as one of the last actions of dictator Barre, an extension was added to the national highway to include Bosaso, connecting the port all the way down to Kismayo. This is what the transport system looked like prior to 1988:
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And this is what it looked like after, notice new highway extension connecting Bosaso to the south:
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Not only that but at Bosaso, the terminal of the new highway Barre lobbied Italy to construct a new port. This was one of the luckiest investments to be received by any Somali clans because just a couple of years after the port and highway were completed, the civil war broke out and Puntland was the only region to escape the civil war completely with brand new infrastructure. Not only that but Bosaso port had complete monopoly for so many years because Berbera was not usable and the entire breadth of Somaliland including the highway was mined extensively during the civil war so was not commercially viable for the most part.
Imagine having complete monopoly over imports and exports and a brand new highway to boot in 1991, when all other Somali clans were embroiled in bitter conflict. Under any sound leadership Puntland would be booming right now. But it lags way behind Somaliland even though Somaliland was completely destroyed by the genocide and had to be rebuilt from scratch with all material wealth of its citizens gone. To give you an idea of how small Puntland's economy is, Berbera alone generates more income than the entire state of puntland.
That was Puntland's golden opportunity and they just let it pass, really shocking once you think about it.