The transport corridor to be built between Ethiopia and Djibouti, connecting the former with sea ports is taking concrete shape with the government of Ethiopia and the African Development Bank Group signing a US$98-million grant agreement. The amount, towards the construction cost of the first phase of the project will be released from the African Development Fund (ADF). In the first phase, the project will construct 60 km of a 4-lane expressway section of the new 126 km stretch from Adama to Awash. There will be a one-stop border post at Dewele. The twin objectives of the project are to reduce the transaction cost and to enhance business engagements with the two neighbors. The project assumes importance for Ethiopia on account of the difficulties being faced by that country in its border treaty with Eritrea, another neighbor of the landlocked country. As reported by www.trandnafrica.com, the truce hailed widely among nations, has faced a setback when Eretria, reportedly closed the border upon fearing greater influx of people and goods from Ethiopia, affecting its local economy.
AfDB backed project agreement was signed by Ahmed Shide, the Minister of Finance, on behalf of the government of Ethiopia, and Abdul Kamara, the African Development Bank Group’s country manager in Ethiopia recently in the presence of representatives of both governments and businesses from both Ethiopia and Djibouti. The project involves a cost of US$255 million. Of this, ADF grant will be US$98 million to the government of Ethiopia, and US$5.3 million to the government of Djibouti. Ethiopia will foot the bill for remaining US$151 million. The project to be commenced in 2020 will be implemented over a five year period.
The expressway will be constructed in such a way to connect important markets in both countries, particularly markets in rural areas to bring them to the mainstream and connect the rural communities to help them trade their produces at good prices. Many trucks will be deployed to carry goods to and from both countries. Rough estimates put that, when the project becomes fully operational, more than 5000 trucks will be plying between hinterland of both countries to ports of Djibouti and other trading areas. It will also open up numerous employment and business opportunities for the citizens of both countries at the construction time and also once the project is completed. The AfDB now has 24 operations worth about US$1.7 billion in Ethiopia in sectors like transport, energy, water and sanitation infrastructure, governance and accountability, private sector, agriculture and food security. Close to 32% of the Bank’s operations are in road projects, aggregating to slightly over US$ 0.5 billion including four on-going projects covering about 610 km in different parts of the country.
