Addis Ababa light rail project will be completed at the end of 2014

Tigrai Online December 28, 2014

One of the Ethiopian mega projects, the Addis Ababa light rail project is expected to be completed successfully by January 2015. The project is one of Ethiopia’s huge infrastructures as part of the Ethiopian transformation programs.  The cost of the Addis Ababa light rail project is $475 million dollars and it is being built by China Railway Engineering Corporation. The project is financed by the Ethiopian Federal government and Exim Bank of China.

Addis Ababa is the capital of Ethiopia and it is growing exponentially every year. As the city grows so does the need for mass transportation needs. The light rail system in Addis will have about forty trains and it will be able to transport 60,000 passengers in an hour. The rail system has four tracks and each track can easily carry 15,000 passengers on each direction.

The Ethiopian Railways Corporation indicated the light rail system will do a trial run of three months before operating the system in full.

The Ethiopian Railways Corporation (ERC) signed management contract agreement in December 2014 with two Chinese companies, China Railway Group Limited (CREC) and Shenzen Metro Group Co. LTD (SZMC). The Chinese companies will be responsible for the operations, maintenance and management services of the Addis Ababa Light Rail Transit System. There are very few countries with a light rail system in Africa.

Engineer Getachew Betru - PhD, CEO of ERC said “since we do not have sufficient local expertise, we are compelled to secure the services of experienced international companies to manage and maintain the system during the initial years.”

The Ethiopian economy is one of the fastest growing economies in the world. Ethiopia is also building Hydro electric dams, Cement factories, Sugar factories, Textile factories, Fertilizer factories, train lines, universities, wind farms and geothermal power generation projects.

Ethiopia plans to become a powerful middle income country with vibrant economy in the Horn of Africa in the near future.