Ethiopian Roads Authority last week signed agreement with two Chinese construction companies to upgrade the Kombolcha-Bati road to asphalt concrete level. The 133 KM road project is estimated to cost the Authority close to 2.8 billion Ethiopian birr.

Construction of the road, which is scheduled to be completed in three years time will be fully financed with a fund secured from the World Bank. The project is part of the fourth Road Sector Development Program (RSDP IV) of the Authority, for which implementation costs are estimated to reach 125.3 billion birr. Out of this, 84.5 billion birr is allocated
for federal projects, 14.4 billion birr for regional and 26.4 billion for weredas, the smallest administrative subdivision.

The RSDP is part of the Ethiopian Government's Road Sector Development Program (GTP), tasked to upgrade 728 KM of trunk and link roads and construction of 4,331 KM of new link roads.

The Ethiopian Roads Authority  is planning to achieve a nation wide road network of 136,044 KM in 2015 from the 48,793 KM the country has in 2010.

Source: Fortune