Aid Approved for Kenya Highway, Geothermal Projects - AfDB is funding improvements to a 198-km road section in Ethiopia, from Hawassa to Ageremariam, which will connect with the Turbi-Moyale segment
The government of Kenya and the African Development Bank have signed agreements totaling $366 million in financial aid for two projects: a geothermal steam field and a road upgrade, which will open landlocked Ethiopia to the Indian Ocean port of Mombasa. Kenya’s finance minister, Njeru Githae, and the African Development Bank (AfDB) regional director for East Africa, Gabriel Negatu, signed the agreements on March 12. Of the total assistance, a $186.7-million loan from the AfDB group’s African Development Fund will go for converting what is now a 122-kilometer gravel road to an asphalt-paved highway. The upgraded road segment, from Turbi to Moyale, will include bridges and a drainage system. It will have two lanes up to seven meters wide in each direction as well as shoulders. Separately, AfDB is funding improvements to a 198-km road section in Ethiopia, from Hawassa to Ageremariam, which will connect with the Turbi-Moyale segment. Kenya and Ethiopia hav