Ethiopia: Ribbon Cutting Brings Addis Abeba-Nairobi Highway a Step Closer

The 100km long Yabelo-Mega road - part of the 1,000km Mombasa-Nairobi-Addis Abeba Road Corridor - will be opened for traffic on Sunday, March 9, 2014 in the presence of Worqineh Gebeyehu, minister of Transport.
The inauguration, which will take place in Yabelo town - 564km from Addis Abeba in Borena Zone of the Oromia Region - will also be attended by officials from the Ethiopian Roads Authority (ERA).
The African Development Bank (AfDB) has extended a 770 billion Br loan to Ethiopia for the construction of the Yabelo-Mega section of the project.
The Mombasa-Nairobi-Addis Abeba Road Corridor is an important part of the Trans-African Highway, from Cairo to Cape Town. In Kenya and Ethiopia, the road is a link from Addis Ababa to Nairobi.
The Kenyan section of the road between Isiolo and Moyale is about 525km and was constructed as a gravel road in 1974. On the Ethiopian Side of the border, the road is entirely bitumen-paved from Moyale to Addis Abeba. However, the section of the road between Moyale and Hagere Mariam (474km from Addis Abeba in the Sidama Zone of the South Region) is more than 40 years old and has deteriorated. In July 2003, the Ethiopian and Kenyan governments approached the Bank to request financing for the road under their multinational window.
The road is part of phase three, which will include the rehabilitation of the 300km Hawasa-Hagere Mariam and Mega-Moyale roads, as well as construction of an Inland Container Terminal in Ethiopia. The phase also involves the construction to bitumen standard of the 125-km Turbi-Moyale road in Kenya.
The Yabelo-Mega road will be asphalt with seven meters carriageway and 1.5m shoulders. The China Tiesiju Civil Engineering Group Co Ltd - a large-scale construction corporation - constructed the road, whereas Renardet Consulting did the design.
The Yablo-Mega project involves the construction and equipping of a road station in Yabelo. The road station will incorporate public sanitation, market stands and shops, a secured parking area and a repair and refueling station, says Mumina Wa-Kyendo, chief transport engineer at the Ethiopia Office of the AfDB.
The section will be part of the Trans-Africa Highway network, which aims to promote cross-border trade, regional integration and alleviate poverty through highway infrastructure development and the management of road-based trade corridors.
"The project is expected to contribute to enhancing trade and regional integration between Ethiopia and Kenya," Wa-Kyendo said. "It will do so by reducing general transport costs, increasing market sizes beyond national boundaries, increasing economic output and giving rise to other socio-economic benefits."
The project is also expected to contribute to poverty reduction in both countries by increasing access to markets and social services for the surrounding areas. The project will also enhance the development and effectiveness of several other donor-funded projects in agriculture, health and education in the two countries, he said.
The Mombasa-Nairobi-Addis Abeba Road Corridor is expected to have consumed 5.4 billion Br upon its completion in 2016.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201403110118.html

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