Ethiopia-Djibouti railway project inaugurated colorfully

Tigrai Online, Ethiopian News, Sept. Oct. 6, 2016

Ethiopia-Djibouti railway project inaugurated colorfully in Addis Ababa

The Ethiopia-Djibouti railway mega project was inaugurated colorfully on Wednesday October, 5, 2016 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The Ethiopia-Djibouti railway inauguration was attended by Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn of Ethiopia, President of Djibouti Ismail Omar Guelleh, Chinese Ambassador to Ethiopia La Yifan and other dignitaries.

The first of its kind 756 km railway mega project was officially inaugurated in Addis Ababa on October 5 in the capital city of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa with a huge funfair and amazing ceremony.

“It is the first standard gauge electrified railroad on the continent built with Chinese standards and technology, and certainly it will not be the last, many stand to benefit from it” said Chinese Ambassador to Ethiopia La Yifan about the project.

The brand new trains will have an operational speed of up to 120km/h cutting the total travel time to about just to 10 hours from about three days of travel time by heavy trucks.

Ethiopia-Djibouti railway project inauguration ceremony

The cost for the Ethiopian side of the project was around $3.4 billion us dollars. About two thirds 70% of it was financed by China Exim Bank and the remaining 30% was covered by the Ethiopian government.

Ethiopia is pushing multi pronged mega projects encompassing almost every socio-economic sectors of its economy. Ethiopia is one of the fastest growing economies in the world.

Ethiopia is supported by the Eastern and Western powers on its efforts to become a middle income country by 2025.

Ethiopia-Djibouti railway project inauguration ceremony,
Ethiopian and Chinese hosts

Even thought Ethiopia is registering remarkable progress in every way, it hasn’t been a smooth ride for the government.  Internal detractors, riff raffs of the old previous regimes and their foreign supporters are making it as difficult as they can. Despite the obstacles the Ethiopian people and government seem determined to achieve their goal by 2025.

Ethiopia-Djibouti railway project inauguration ceremony
the trains are state of the art.