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Business News
The African Development Bank’s Board of Directors has approved over Sh100 million grant to
Ethiopia
The African Development Bank’s Board of Directors has approved over
Sh100 million grant to Ethiopia’s government to finance a feasibility
study for the construction of a standard-gauge railway (SGR) link
between Ethiopia and neighbouring Sudan.
The grant, from the African Development Fund, the Bank Group's
concessional-rate lending arm, would cover 35 per cent of the total
estimated $3.4 million cost of the study. The remaining funding will be
provided by the NEPAD Infrastructure Project Preparation Facility
(NEPAD-IPPF) in the form of a $2-million grant and by a contribution of
$100,000 each from the two countries involved. The financing was
approved in January.
The two-year, comprehensive feasibility study will assess the proposed
project’s technical, economic, environmental, and social viability, as
well as alternative financing arrangements, including a public-private
partnership (PPP).
The railway line will link Addis Ababa in Ethiopia to Khartoum in Sudan,
with an extension to Port Sudan on the Red Sea. The route, agreed by
both governments, stretches 1,522 kilometres between Addis Ababa and
Port Sudan.
According to the document presented to directors of the African
Development Fund, the absence of a regional arterial route linking
Ethiopia, Sudan and other countries in the Horn of Africa is a brake on
trade, development and regional integration. The movement of goods and
people between Sudan and Ethiopia often requires the use of several
modes of transport, which increases costs and lengthens journey times.
The feasibility study’s findings will be keenly awaited because its
implementation would benefit a large proportion of Ethiopia’s 110
million people and 43 million inhabitants of Sudan, as well as
populations in the wider region.
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