Preliminary studies are indicating that the 130Km Adama-Awash extension of the Addis Abeba–Adama expressway could cost 100 million Br per kilometre to complete.
The extension, which could be constructed over the next five years, will be an addition to the Addis Abeba-Adama expressway which opened to traffic on September 14, 2014.
The Ethiopian Roads Authority (ERA) hired Chinese company, Beijing Expressway Supervision Co. Ltd., and Ethiopian firm, Beza Consulting Engineers Plc, for 41.1 million Br, according to a source at the ERA. The two conducted the two-year study starting from August 25, 2013 and the report was delivered last week. This expressway is expected to cut the drive from Adama to Awash by half, to 30 minutes.
Beijing Expressway Supervision Co. Ltd., is the company that had previously provided consultancy services for the China Communications Construction Company (CCCC). The latter, a state- owned Chinese company, constructed the six-lane, 84.7Km Addis Abeba–Adama express, at a cost of 11 Billion Br.
The 100 million Br a kilometre figure may change when the detailed project design is produced, according to Daniel Mengestu, Plan & Programme Management director at ERA. The Authority will announce a bid to hire contractors for this detailed design of the expressway before the actual construction begins.
The existing Adama-Awash road has two lanes handling a traffic flow of up to 6,000 vehicles a day, according to 2014 data from the ERA. Sino trucks account for 2,500 vehicles of the daily total. However, the road is not adequate to accommodate the significantly increasing traffic congestion, said Samson Wondimu, communications director of ERA.
At present the asphalt road coverage of the country has reached 109,000Km, with spending over the past 18 years amounting to 218 billion Br. The road sector has also been given chief priority in the next fiscal year with the government budgeting around 24 billion Br.
“Generally all corridors connected to Addis Abeba have high traffic congestion and need standard highways. A study to identify and prioritise the corridors with high congestion in order to determine which roads need standard highways, has been started this year,” said Daniel.
According to current ERA reports, the Akaki–Bishoftu corridor is listed as the corridor with the highest congestion, with 15,000 cars per day. Second is the Addis Abeba–Jimma corridor with 5,200 vehicles. Corridors to Debre Markos, Ambo, Alemgena and Debre Birhan are also identified among those with the highest congestion, with respective traffic flows of 3,800, 3,600, 3,400, 1,900 vehicles per day. Other than this expressway ERA is currently constructing a 218km expressway project from Modjo to Hawassa,
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