Three year programme for Ethiopia road projects planned

A new programme of works planned by the Ethiopian Roads Authority (ERA) will see the upgrading and surfacing of 372km of roads in the country. The ERA signed a series of contracts with a number of construction firms, both from Ethiopia and from overseas. The firms that will handle the road building activity are; Ethiopian Defense Construction, China Railway Engineering, China Wuyi, Eney Construction, Yotek Construction and FAL General Contractor. The programme of works is worth close to US$289 million in all and is expected to take three years to complete. The aim of this programme is to help develop Ethiopia’s tourism sector by improving access across the country, as well as to provide better and safer transport links for trade and commerce to boost the economy. The upgraded routes will also provide better access to mineral deposits in the country, boosting Ethiopia’s quarrying and mining sectors. At present the ERA is considering engineering consultancies able to handle a supervisory role over these road construction projects. The road projects that form the programme are for the Afedera-Erebti, Eteya-Robe-Seru, Asosa-Daleti-Barudu, Babile-fiq I, II, III, and Eritale-Ahmedela I, II routes.