$720 Million: Borrowed by Ethiopia from the International Development Association in a bid to contemporize a Four Lane Motorway that unites Djibouti

By Abdul Rahman Bangura–

NEW AFRICA DAILY NEWS (NADN) Freetown, Sierra Leone – The IDA is the department of the World Bank that bargains with very poor nations. It strives to boost the progression of goods and people between Addis and the microstate of Djibouti, Ethiopia’s main outlet to the Indian Ocean and world markets.

The World Bank says the ambition will be “a catalyst for commerce, assisting businesses to trim their overheads and strengthen linkages to regional and global value chains”.

Approximately 95% of Ethiopia’s external trade utilizes the Djibouti aisle. The project will see a 150km mud boulevard between Mieso and Dire Dawa become a four-lane highway. Presently, trucks can’t wield this road and must pursue a more indirect route on the A10.

Different elements of the plan comprise logistics facilities, freight truck terminals, and secondary roads to relate towns and villages to the main corridor.

Ahmed Shide – Ethiopia’s Finance Minister, remarked: “This project is important to support our commitment to fostering inclusive growth and regional integration, as we are now fully focused on sustaining the growth and reaping the peace dividends.”

Boutheina Guermazi, a World Bank Director for Regional Integration, expanded that the programme was “one of the priority operations that we are supporting in the Horn to help connect hinterland to ports and markets, and to increase opportunities for regional trade”.

For New Africa Daily News Abdul Rahman Bangura Reports,  Africa Correspondent