Nation at Forefront in Cross-boundary Road Connectivity in Region: Ministry of Transport

Addis Ababa (ENA) August 1/2020 Ethiopia has been carrying out cross-boundary road connecting projects with various east African countries with the view to facilitating trade and free movement of goods in the region, according to Ministry of Transport. 

The projects are one-stop border post infrastructures that are highly anticipated to connect Ethiopia with Eritrea, Djibouti, Sudan, South Sudan and Somalia.

Infrastructure Bureau Head at Ministry of Transport, Nasir Adem told ENA that the road projects will mainly connect Ethiopia with four corridors as well as the main trade and transport routes in the region.

“The road projects are based on the needs and volume of the country's agricultural production, manufacturing and mining as well as tourism potential, ” he said, adding that the government has accordingly put a program in place to build the roads.”

Recalling the existence of the Horn of African Road Infrastructure Initiative, especially in terms of connecting Ethiopia with the corridors, Nasir stated that the country has come a long way in this regard.

“Generally, Ethiopia is exerting maximum effort to be linked with the all four corridors thorough harmonizing its approach with Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA). For instance, the Ethio-Djibouti corridor was built in two directions, north of the Addis Ababa-Awash-Mille-Galafi road as one of the IGAD-centric plan,” he stated.

In addition to one-stop border post construction of new road construction, renovation and expansion, old roads connecting the country with neighboring countries is being built.

The bureau head cited as an example the over 800 kilometers Addis-Assab road which will help to access the corridor.

The other one-stop border post connecting Ethiopia and Kenya is near completion and will commence service within the coming two months period, Nasir revealed.

While the construction on the Ethiopian side is now close to completion at 98 percent and with Kenya completing the construction of its part the service provision will start soon.

A new 502 kms one stop border post is also under construction along the border between Ethiopia and Kenya in Moyale area with an outlay of 244 million U.S. dollars, he added. The Hawassa-Moyale road project is expected to be fully operational in two years period.

The head stated that Ethiopia has been at the forefront in finalizing the major one-stop border post infrastructures that integrate the east African countries, especially to link the six regional countries for the establishment of the trade portal.