Sudan, Ethiopia joint committee discusses railway connecting two countries

December 15, 2022 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese-Ethiopian Joint Technical Committee held a meeting on Wednesday to discuss the feasibility study of a railway project linking the two neighbouring countries.

The meeting of the joint committee discussed the completion of the feasibility study of the railway project linking Addis Ababa-Port Sudan.

The Canadian consulting company of the project CPCS took part in the meeting.

The railway will help to reduce Ethiopia’s dependency on the Port of Djibouti which handles about 95 per cent of the landlocked country’s imports and exports.

The railway will follow the route of Addis Ababa, along with the Awash-Kombolcha-Weldiya route, to Wereta – Gonder – Metema – Galabat – Gadarif – Kassala – Haiya and to Port Sudan, with a total distance of about 1,522 kilometres.

The two sides stressed the importance of the project to strengthen the communication and economic development of the two countries.

The meeting agreed on the speedy completion of the feasibility study before seeking jointly to attract financing for the implementation of the project.

This is the last meeting of the joint technical committee and consultant. where the draft study is approved. It would be delivered by the end of December.

In a report released in June 2019, the African Development Bank estimated the budget of the project at $ 3,400, 000. The African Union’s NEPAD – Infrastructure Project Preparation Facility will provide $ 2,000,000, USASF will provide a grant of $ 1,200,000 and the counterpart contribution $ 200,000.

(ST)