The Roads Authority of Ethiopia announced that it has met its targets for the first half of the current fiscal year. 
The authority completed 647 kilometers of the 722 kilometers of new roads it planned to construct over the last two quarters according to Samson Wondimu Director of the Communications Directorate.
8176 Kilometers of roads were maintained as part of the plan to carry out 7886.5 kilometers of regular road works while 232.5 kilometers of the targeted 267.2 kilometers of seasonal road repairs were completed.
19,558 Kilometers of new road construction projects including various maintenance works have been planned for this budget year, at a total cost of 18.3 billion birr according to Samson.The authority has also planned to construct 15 bridges with bridges in Adigrat, Dire Dawa, Gogcha, Jimma, Sile and South Kulfe in progress he said.
There are more than 123 road construction and related projects in progress across the country with 78 being carried out by 28 local contractors said Dereje Hailu Communication Team Coordinator for the roads authority.
The authority hopes to encourage more local contractors to engage in road constructions through various trainings and arranging shorter length roads (20-30 kilometers) for construction according to Dereje.
ERA has provided trainings in various elements of road construction for labor base, contract management, surveying, material management and dump track operating he explained.
Local contractors engaged in the road construction sector have been performing well except for problems seen with keeping up with schedules, material shortages and some technical problems noted Dereje.
Source: Ethiopian Herald
