A 60 million US dollar agreement was signed for the construction of the road between Meskel Square to Bole Airport, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia last week. The agreement was signed by Fekade Haile, manager of the Addis Ababa City Roads Authority and Zhou Yong Sheng, general manager of the China Road and Bridge Addis Engineering plc.
The road construction project will be funded by a 20 million birr loan from the Import-Export Bank of China, approved by the Parliament.
The construction company has agreed to complete the construction in time for the 2013 event marking the 50th anniversary of the Organization for African Union, predecessor to the African Union. It was originally anticipated, by the company who designed the road, Eng. Zewdie Eskinder Co., that the road will take three years to complete.Studies on traffic management and land demarcation are under way said Engineer Fekade Haile Manager of AACRA. Traffic management during construction is a significant concern for the roads authority.
It is expected that construction will only close of one side of the road with sidewalks by the open lane paved to widen the road to maximize capacity said Yared Mekonnen Computer Aided Design expert.
The Authority will also employ supplementary junctions to reduce traffic load he added. The construction will not affect buildings except for the demolishing of some fences said Yared.
Utility providers have been notified to dig out pipes, fibre optic cables, and electricity line and relocate then to the future sidewalks he explained. The process of moving all utility lines is expected to take six months according to Yared.
The construction will commence on a phase by phase basis with the first phase being the Olympia overpass.
Source: Addis Fortune
