Addis Abeba’s Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project has received an additional 39 million dollars in finance from Agencé France de Development (AfD). This is a second round credit, after the organisation injected finance into the same project last year. The project has already received 56 million dollars of finance from the AfD to commence construction.
The money will be used specifically in the construction and launching of the BRT’s pilot lane, B2. BRT, which is considered a cost effective approach, is a component of the city’s plan to shift to a mass based transport system. BRT will introduce dedicated lanes for buses, a longer stop spacing than the conventional buses and wider rights of way.
It is also more cost effective than the newly implemented Light Railway Transit (LRT) mass transport system. The aforementioned study found that BRT fares can be four to 20pc cheaper than LRT fares and 10 to 100pc cheaper when compared with metro bus fares.
As part of the city’s tenth master plan, along with this corridor the city has plans to build three more corridors with a total length of 35km over the coming five years; another five corridors, 58km in length, will be added in ten years’ time. The B2 corridor specifically covers a total of 16km, connecting major spots, such as Wingate and Jemmo to the west, and from Merkato to Qera. The corridor will pass through five districts – Addis Ketema, Nifas Silk, Kirkos, Gullele and Lideta.
The routes were selected due to the significant number of both primary and secondary schools, and health centres within those areas. In line with this, the higher traffic rate that has been observed through preliminary studies also contributed. Two of the districts it serves, Addis Ketema and Lideta, have the highest population density.
Even if the actual launch of the project came late, the idea of it was tabled years ago. A feasibility study of the lanes was done by Egis Rail and Lyon Town Planning Agency (LTPA), which was then hired as a consultant. The company presented its study in October 2010. Then, in the same year, the Addis Abeba City Roads Authority hired an Indian company, DMTS, and a local firm, Beza Consulting Engineers Plc, to conduct preliminary studies and design works.
The Authority changed its mind, however, once the funding was secured from the French government. The older design was not accepted by the French, so another design had to be done.
In this respect, the Addis Abeba Transport Bureau awarded a French company, Safege Sas, to do the consulting, design and construction supervision of the BRT on March 16, 2016.
The work is still under progress, Mitiku Asmare, head of the BRT project office told .
From the total lanes, half of the route, from Gofa Gabriel to Autosbus Tera, will be totally rebuilt. The lanes on the right and left sides will be reserved for passenger vehicles, while the middle lane will be used for the BRT. The width of the lanes will range from 20 to 40m, according to the preliminary and operational feasibility study conducted by DMTS. This corridor will have 17 stations built on the existing roads. The B2 corridor will also accommodate seven open public spaces.
This specific corridor is scheduled to be commissioned in November 2018. It is expected to serve 2,700 passengers an hour, in both directions.
Soon after the completion of the study by Safege, a tender to hire a contractor will be held.
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