New ERA Enterprise Will Collect Toll Road Revenue

Ethiopian Roads Authority (ERA) is going to form a new enterprise to manage revenue from toll roads, Capital reported.

Currently, the federal authority, which is responsible for managing and following the construction of roads in the country, is to finalize the Addis-Adama (Nazareth) expressway. Samson Wendemu, public relations head of ERA, said that the new enterprise will manage the revenue that will be earned from expressways like the Addis-Adama. This new enterprise be officially formed when the toll road that connects the capital city with the town in the east is finished. 

Over 92pct of the construction of this road has been accomplished, and it is expected to be finished on schedule. The public relations head said that the road will be open by April this year.

The enterprise will be established by ERA and will collect the revenue paid by cars that use  the toll road.  The road cost one billion birr and is being constructed by, China Communications Construction Company (CCCC). When the project commenced in April 2010 they promised to finish the six lane expressway by April 2014.

The road will be able to accommodate over 15,000 vehicles per day and will be the nation’s first toll road, In other parts of the world toll-ways are common. Currently, ERA has plans to expand the toll road to the southern and eastern part of the country in areas that have a high amount of traffic.

Financing is beginning to come to fruition for the  Mojo town to Hawassa (Awassa) road. Recently the African Development Bank (AfDB) approved money for the first project stretching from Mojo-Meki. AfDB approved USD 126 million for the first phase of the 56km road, which will be the Mojo-Meki section.  According to Samson the project is in the bidding process to select the contractor.

The expenses for the other phases of the project, stretching  from Meki-Zeway(Batu) (37km), Zeway-ArisiNegele and ArisiNegele-Hawassa are expected to be covered by Korean EXIM Bank, China and the World Bank separately. The project will be implemented in five years. The Mojo-Hawassa highway lies mostly in Oromia Region and is part of the major Mombasa-Nairobi-Addis Ababa highway project and is expected to facilitate local agri-business and international trade.

The current Mojo –Hawassa road is dilapidated, has only two lanes. The road section forms a link in the route from Cape Town to Cairo.

The other toll way that ERA plans to construct in the future is the road from Adama to Awash town, which is a corridor for traffic to the port of Dibouti.

Source: Capital