Woldia-Hara Gebeya Mekele railway project is on truck and construction work is continuing

Tigrai Online, May 7, 2017

The Woldia-Hara Gebeya Mekele railway project is on truck and construction work is continuing says Mr. Geberemedhin Gebrealif a manager with the Ethiopian Railways Corporation –ERC. Mr. Geberemedhin Gebrealif recently gave an interview to Tigrai State Radio (Demtsi Woyane Tigrai). The journalist asked if the Woldia-Hara Gebeya Mekele construction has been stopped, if workers are being sent home, local offices are being closed.

Mr. Geberemedhin Gebrealif said the construction of the railway is still going on and nothing about the project is stopped. He continued to explain, that there are many levels of work involved to complete the project. Removal of soil work, bridges, water tunnel, and other detailing work is completed. The people who were working on this type of work might have gone or the experts were moved to other sections of the project. The other and very important step is tunnel digging work, which is mainly from Meggal to Mekelle and that work still going on without any stoppage said the manger of the Woldia-Gebeya Mekele railway project.

Asked what is going on with the Mekelle-Shire section of the railway project, Mr. Geberemedhin said officially we have not been informed by the government about cancellation, but the plan for line five is still on the project and it is a matter of when.

Geberemedhin indicated the 216 km Woldia-Hara Gebeya Mekele project over all is above 45% completed and tunnel work is 70% done.

As Chairperson of the Committee of Ambassadors of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States, H.E. Teshome Toga Chanaka of Ethiopia shares updates and outlooks on the future of ACP-EU relations,

He also said people should be carful beliving what they read on social media and other internet sources with taking the time to make sure what they read is based on facts and concrete evidence.

The Ethiopian rumor mill has been cranking out all types of false information about the railway project for weeks now.

We provided this little article in English for those who don’t speak Tigrigna.