The two-year, comprehensive feasibility study will assess the proposed multi-criteria viability
The Abidjan, Ivory Coast headquartered African Development Bank’s Board of Directors has approved a US$ 1.2mn grant to Ethiopia’s government to finance a feasibility study for construction of a standard-gauge railway (SGR) link between Ethiopia and neighbouring Sudan.
The grant, from the African Development Fund, the Bank Group’s concessional-rate lending arm, will cover 35% of the total estimated $3.4 million cost of the study. The remaining funding will be provided by the NEPAD (New Partnership for Africa’s Development) Infrastructure Project Preparation Facility (NEPAD-IPPF) in the form of a US$ 2mn grant
The two-year, comprehensive feasibility study will assess the proposed project’s technical, economic, environmental and social viability, as well as alternative financing arrangements, including a public-private partnership (PPP).
The railway line will link Addis Ababa in Ethiopia to Khartoum in Sudan, with an extension to Port Sudan on the Red Sea. The route, agreed by both governments, stretches 1,522km between Addis Ababa and Port Sudan.
According to the document presented to directors of the African Development Fund, the absence of a regional arterial route linking Ethiopia, Sudan and other countries in the Horn of Africa is a brake on trade, development and regional integration.
The feasibility study’s findings will be keenly awaited because its implementation would benefit a large proportion of Ethiopia’s 110 million people and 43 million inhabitants of Sudan, as well as populations in the wider region.
