Addis Ababa, 06 August 2016 (WIC) – The first leg of a tunnel that heralds the completion of 45 percent of the Awash-Kombolcha-Hara-Gebeya railway project has been successfully completed yesterday.
The State Minister of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Cooperation, Ahmed Shide, said that 45 percent of the Awash-Kombolcha-Hara Gebeya Rail way project has been successfully completed.
The minister said so while witnessing the final drilling point of the 1,530 meter long tunnel that heralds the completion of almost half of the project works.
He noted that the project plays a vital role in linking the North-Eastern part of Ethiopia to the port of Djibouti.
The CEO of Ethiopian Railway Corporation, Dr. Engineer Getachew Betru, noted that the 392 kilometer long railway project has six such tunnels while the longest one is 3.2 kilometer.
The construction of the project is going forward according to schedule in a manner that confirms to international standards, he said.
According to information obtained from Ethiopian Railway Corporation, the Awash-Kombolcha-Hara Gebeya Railway project costs the country over 1.7 billion dollars. Two foreign companies, Yapi Merkezi; Turkish engineering company and Bistara; French consulting company, are working on the project as contactor and consultant, respectively.