Ethiopia inaugurates US $179m Dire Dawa-Dewele toll road project

The government of Ethiopia has inaugurated the US $179 m Dire Dawa-Dewele toll road project aimed at shortening time trucks use to used to transport goods between Ethiopia and Djibouti.

Speaking during the inauguration ceremony, Transport Minister Dagmawit Moges said that Ethiopian Road Authority has been supporting and following the progress of ongoing road projects across the country.

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Dire Dawa-Dewele toll road

The 220 kilometer road is the second toll road to Ethiopia, next to Addis Ababa-Adama Expressway. Constructed by a workforce of 5,000, the two-way highway has a width of 10m in rural areas and 21.5m in urban areas. The old Dire Dawa-Dewele road was a gravel road that disrupted transportation due to frequent damages caused by flood and landslide.  The road will connect Ethiopia with Djibouti, along the existing road from Dewele to Djibouti.

The road has a 10cm thickness, crosses over 29 bridges and will have three toll plazas. The project was expected to be delivered last year, but the Authority extended the delivery date by one year, since the project was modified to make the road thicker.

The project was constructed by China’s CGCOC Group and the consulting contract was given to Shandong Great Supervision and Consultation Co. Ltd, a Chinese road design and construction consultancy. About 85% of the construction was financed through loan obtained from China’s Exim Bank and the remaining sum by the Ethiopian government.

CGCOC Group, the company previously constructed the Ethiopian Glass Factory and the Nile River Bridge Project and is currently working on the Addis-Africa International Exhibition & Convention Center

Dagmawit Moges said that the government has also targeted 220,000Km in road coverage by the end of the second edition of the Growth & Transformation Plan (GTP II) in 2020.