ETHIO-DJIBOUTI Railway | Completed

India pledges 300 mln USD for Ethio-Djibouti Railway
Tuesday, 24 May 2011


Addis Ababa, May 24 (WIC) – Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India announced that his government would support the development of a new Ethio-Djibouti Railway line to the tune of 300 million dollars.

At the inaugural ceremony of the Second Africa India Forum Summit, Prime Minister Singh said India would also offer 5 billion USD for the next three years under lines of credit to help achieve the development goals of Africa.

“Under the lines of credit that we offered at the first Summit, we had specifically looked at promoting regional integration through infrastructure development,” Singh said in his address to Heads of States and representatives of 15 African countries. “On the advice of the African Union, I am happy to announce that we would support the development of a new Ethio-Djibouti Railway line to the tune of 300 million USD for this important regional project”.:cheers:

The Prime Minister also said that India will offer an additional 700 million USD to establish new institutions and training programmes in consultation with the African Union and its institutions.

“Africa possesses all the prerequisites to become a major growth pole of the world in the 21st century,” Singh said. “We will work with Africa to enable it to realize this potential”.

The Prime Minister proposed to establish an India-Africa Food Processing Cluster, Integrated Textiles Cluster, Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting Cluster and an India-Africa Institute of Agriculture and Rural Development.

He also proposed the establishment of an India-Africa Virtual University, which will provide 10,000 new scholarships for African students.

“This, we hope, will help to meet some of the demand in Africa for higher studies in Indian Institutions,” Singh said adding that the current 500 African scholarships per annum would be increased to 900, taking the total commitment for the next three years to more than 22,000.

In support of maintaining peace and security in Africa, Prime Minister Singh said that India would contribute two million USD for the African Union Mission in Somalia.

The Second Africa-India Forum Summit is expected to adopt a Joint Declaration of the Africa – India Partnership (Addis Ababa Declaration) to contain the political commitments of the two sides, as well as an Africa – India Framework for Cooperation when it culminates tomorrow.

Representatives of 15 African countries including Algeria, Burundi, Chad, Egypt, Ethiopia, Equatorial Guinea, Kenya, Libya, Malawi, Namibia, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa and Swaziland are taking part in the summit.

On the Ethiopian side Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and his Deputy Hailemariam Desalegn, who is also Minister of Foreign Affairs, attended the Summit.

Singh, who co-chaired the Summit with Chairperson of the African Union and President of Equatorial Guinea, Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, is also expected to hold bilateral visits to Ethiopia and Tanzania.
Last Updated ( Tuesday, 24 May 2011 )

Click to expand...

Ethiopia unveils billion-dollar rail project to Djibouti

Ethiopia Wednesday unveiled a new railway project that would connect its capital Addis Ababa to neighbouring Djibouti in a new infrastructure-building phase.

The Addis-Djibouti double-track railway project is one of eight routes the Ethiopian government has planned to construct over the next five years as it seeks to grow trade with its neighbours.

Ethiopia five months ago launched Africa's biggest hydropower project, the "renaissance dam" on the Nile River at a cost of $8 billion.

The first phase of the new rail project to be completed in three years will cover 670 kilometres and is expected to cost $1.2 billion, government officials said.

A large part of this amount is a loan advanced by China but the Ethiopian government has also put up some of it although details were not immediately available.


"We are confident the project will be done on schedule," said Getachew Betru, the general manager of the Ethiopian Railway Corporation.

Russian railway experts would also oversee the project, he said.

Leading Chinese railway construction company China Railway Engineering Corporation (CREC) will build the railway which would cross the lowlands of eastern Ethiopia as it heads to the border with Djibouti.

Djibouti is a main sea gate for landlocked Ethiopia, the second most populous country in sub Saharan Africa.

Click to expand...

Ethiopia signed a $1.5 billion agreement with state-run China Communications Construction Co. to build a railway to carry potash from mines being developed in the nation’s northeast.

The 360-kilometer (224-mile) line will transport passengers and freight along a route to neighboring Djibouti’s Tadjourah port, which is being built. It should be completed by July 2015, Ethiopia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement posted on its website yesterday.

CCCC (1800), a Chinese government-owned transportation infrastructure company, will be “mobilizing substantial resources to guarantee completion of the project,” the ministry said, citing the company’s vice president, Zhou Yongheng.

Ethiopia, sub-Saharan Africa’s second-most populous nation, is in the middle of a five-year plan to modernize and upgrade its infrastructure and industries. The government last year signed two agreements with Chinese companies to build a 4,744- kilometer (2,948-mile) rail network to Djibouti.

Landlocked Ethiopia lost its access to the sea after Eritrea voted for independence in 1993. The new rail line will run between the cities of Mekele and Hara Gebaya.

Canada’s Allana Potash Corp. (AAA), Sainik Potash Plc of India, Ethiopian Potash Corp. (FED) and Melbourne-based BHP Billiton Ltd. are all developing projects to extract potash, a fertilizer ingredient, in the Afar region.

Click to expand...

Addis Ababa July 23/2015 The Addis Ababa-Djibouti railway project would reportedly be finalized within the coming four months.

The 8th Ethio-Djibouti Joint Commission Meeting which focused on the progress and contract management of Addis Ababa-Djibouti railway project was held here today in Addis Ababa.

During the occasion, Transport Minister Workneh Gebeyehu said more than 86 percent of the project which consists of two sections of the railway that extend from Addis Ababa-Meiso and Meiso-Djibouti border on the Ethiopian side is completed.

Protection works, electro-mechanical works, and station works are well underway, while earth works and bridges have already been completed, he added.

According to the minister, the joint meeting would now mainly discuss about the contract management of Addis Ababa-Djibouti and Nagad-Doraleh railway projects as they are nearing completion.

Since there are no well trained local professionals in railway management, widely known international companies will take the maintenance and management works alongside giving training to local trainees that take over after five years, Workneh stated.

“Transport infrastructure, especially railway transport, is capital and technology intensive which requires long-term planning, strategic alignment with regional and international development plans; and moreover it requires effective leadership,” according to the minister.

Hence the management contract agreement of the projects on both sides of the border will be conducted after the process is agreed upon between the two countries, he pointed out.

Djibouti’s Equipment and Transport Minister, Moussa Ahmed Hossan said over 82 percent of the Nagad-Doraleh Port railway project on the Djiboutian side is completed and well in progress.

The 844 kms Addis Ababa-Djibouti and Nagad-Doraleh railway projects are being built with an outlay of close to 4 billion USD, it was learned.

Click to expand...