A feasibility study is underway for the construction of four new expressways originating from Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian Roads Authority has announced.
According to Engineer Frew Bekele, Director of Engineering Procurement at the Authority, the planned expressways will connect Addis Ababa to Dessie, Jimma, Debre Markos, and Nekemte. These routes will traverse mountainous terrain and require significant earthworks, resulting in high construction costs. Because of this, the projects are planned as Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs).
The feasibility studies, preliminary designs, and preparations are currently underway. The projects, each over 300 kilometers in length, will be implemented in phases rather than all at once.
The Addis Ababa-Jimma and Addis Ababa-Debre Markos projects have already been submitted to the Ministry of Finance's Public-Private Partnership Board, with the remaining projects to follow. Following approval by the Ministry of Finance's PPP board, the projects will proceed to the next stage, FBC reported.