In a ceremony attended by Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali, South Korean Ambassador to Ethiopia Kang Seok-hee, and other officials, Daewoo Engineering & Construction Company has opened the mainline section of Ethiopia’s Meki-Zway Expressway.
The Expressway is a 37km round-trip, four-lane road that connects the Meki and Zway regions in the Oromia state of the East African country. It is a key section of the 209km Modjo-Hawassa Expressway, which connects Ethiopia to her neighboring Republic of Kenya.
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According to the Korean construction company, the completion of the construction of the two 4.6km connecting roads is expected to be completed by the end of June this year.
An overview of the Modjo-Hawassa Expressway project
The Modjo-Hawassa Expressway project is being implemented in four phases. The first two phases of the project are 56.4 Km Modjo-Meki and the 37 Km Meki –Ziway expressways. The third and the fourth sections are the 57 Km Ziway-Arsi Negelle and the 52 Km Arsi Negelle-Hawassa.
The African Development Bank Group (AfDB or ADB), otherwise known as Banque Africaine de Développement (BAD), and the Bank of Korea, are funding the implementation of the first and second phases respectively while the third and the fourth phases are subsidized respectively by the World Bank and the Export-Import Bank of China.
The total estimated cost of the entire project is approximately US$ 336M.
Expectations for the highway
Upon completion, the Modjo-Hawassa Expressway will have a great impact on enhancing the socio-economic relations between Ethiopia and Kenya by facilitating import-export linkages through Mombasa Port in addition to easing traffic on the way to Hawassa.
This highway is part of the TransAfrican Highway that connects Cairo in Egypt to Cape Town in South Africa starting from Azezo to Gondar, Bahir Dar to Addis Ababa, Modjo, Hawasa, and Moyale.
