Ethiopia and Sudan to launch land transportation service

By Tesfa-Alem Tekle

March 9, 2017 (ADDIS ABABA) – A new public land transportation service between Ethiopia and Sudan is to start this week, Ethiopia’s transport authority announced.

The cross border highway stretching from Addis Ababa to Khartoum will be open for traffic on Sunday and will provide service in accordance to reached agreements on standards of vehicles, tariffs and immigration rules of the two countries.

The new public bus transportation between the two capital cities comes to operation after the completion of a trans-border highway project which took about 8 years to construct it.

The transport service is said to further strengthen bilateral ties of the neighbours and enhance, trade, investment, tourism and social ties between people in two nations.

It is also believed to facilitate cooperation between communities residing along the common border.

Landlocked Ethiopia has three trans-border highways linking it with Sudan which the horn of Africa’s nation mainly uses it to export its products and import Sudan’s fuel.

However, as per the tarriff set, a passenger must pay 60 US dollars to travel from Addis Ababa to Khartoum, a route that takes two-days by road.

A passenger is expected to process a valid passport and visa before leaving.

As well as Sudan, Ethiopia has been constructing a number of trans-boundary highways to link its borders with neighboring nations, including Kenya and South Sudan.

Last month Ethiopia and South Sudan signed agreements to build cross border roads linking both countries in a bid to boost import and export volume of both countries. The agreement also enables Ethiopia to import fuel from Sudan at relatively cheaper prices.

(ST)