The Ethiopian Railway Corporation is to terminate its consultancy agreement with Swedish National Road Consulting according to sources.

The subsidiary of the Swedish Transport Administration officially stopped operations on the Sebeta-Mei’so-Dewale railway project it was learned.

The consultancy agreement was terminated on the basis of the corporation’s agreement with Chinese Import-Export Bank, which is financing the project according to Debo Tunka, Deputy Chief Executive of the Infrastructure Division of ERC. The ERC was forced to terminate the contract it had with the Swedish company because the financier had the right to nominate the consultant according to the financing agreement he explained.

The agreement with Swedish National Road Consulting had been reached before the financing agreement was secured from the Chinese EXIM bank noted Debo.

The ERC denied allegations that it terminated its agreement with the Swedish company primarily due to disagreements which arose with the Chinese contractor of the project.

China International Civil Engineering Consulting has already begun operations to replace the Swedish consultant according to Debo. The new consultant is in the process of evaluating the site to support its services he said.

It is to be remembered that the China Export-Import Bank is financing 85 percent of the railway project while the Ethiopian government is making up the difference.

Source: Capital