2merkato

Equity Bank, a financial services provider headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, is looking for investment opportunities in Ethiopia as part of its push to become a Pan-African bank.

Ethiopian Road Authority (ERA) said it had concluded upgrading the Welqite-Arekete-Hossana road construction project.

The Ethiopian Roads Authority announced a tender for the design of the the 80.5Km road from Gedo to Menebegna in Wollega Zone of Oromia. The project is part of the larger Gedo-Lemlem Bereha project, which is 144.3kms and is expected to require financing estimated at 50 million US dollars.

The Ethiopian government will fund 10 percent of the project while the remaining 90 percent is expected to be covered by loans.

The loans to finance the construction project are yet to be approved by the House of Peoples Representatives.

The Ethiopian Roads Authority revealed plans to construct and repair 2216 kilometers of roads this financial year. The road construction and repair program is expected to cost an estimated 8 billion birr.

More than 1022 kilometers of the total road program will consist of new road construction according to Samson Wondimu Communications Director for the Roads Authority.

The road projects are intended to foster closer market links across the country as well as reducing the cost of transport and the time required for farmers to transport their produce to markets he said.

The current program is also designed to take into account the needs of emerging states to ensure equitable development across the nation explain Samson.

The Ethiopian Roads Authority is set to implement a five year ‘Bridge Improvement Master Plan’ to help archive information on bridges and to register the standard of service in the country.

The project is expected to cost above 394 million birr according to Samson Wondimu, Head of Public Relations with the authority.

About 20 million birr has been allocated for the construction and maintenance of bridges in this fiscal year he said.