World Bank, Gov’t Sign 7.5b Br Loan Agreement for Expressway Section

The World Bank’s Country Director for Ethiopia, Guang Zhe Chen signed a 7.5 billion Br loan agreement with the government, the last he will sign in this capacity as his four-year tenure in Ethiopia comes to an end.

“This will be the last financial agreement I will be signing this fiscal year and in my tenure in Ethiopia,” said Guang during the signing ceremony.

Guang is a Chinese national with 20 years’ experience in the field of developmental finance. Before his appointment in 2011, succeeding Ken Oashi as country director, he had worked as a World Bank ProgrammeTeam Leader and Task Manager, for lending, supervision, economic sector work and technical assistance.

The loan agreement came after the Bank’s approval for the Ziway-Arsi Negele road project. It was signed by the outgoing country director and Ahmed Shide, state minister for Finance & Economic Development (MoFED). The ceremony on June 18, 2015, was attended by officials from the Ethiopian Roads Authority (ERA), including the newly appointed Director General, Areya Girmay.

The road is the part of the 203Km Modjo-Hawassa expressway, which will be implemented in four sections including this final section, is 57 Km long. Section one of the expressway is also 57 Km and stretches from Modjo to Meki with section which two being a 37Km stretch from Meki to Ziway and section three, 52Km from Arsi Negele to Hawassa. Financing was obtained from the African Development Bank(AfDB), Korean EXIM Bank and China EXIM Bank, respectively.

The project will consider the increasing traffic flow in the area and it is also the part of Trans African highway, said Samson Wondimu.

The feasibility study of this expressway was conducted by a local company called Ethio Infra Engineering Plc.

This is the first time that four developmental partners have agreed to finance one section of the road, said Guang. It was not a small task to bring all the financing together to a uniform standard both in terms of technical distance and environmental and sociological safeguards, he remarked.

In his speech, he highlighted points such as contract management-executing the project with efficient cost and time, environment, management of right of way issues and resettlement- as points that needed due consideration.

The Bank will continue working with the government on the implementation of this project and we will look for other opportunities to continue to support transport sector development, added Guang.

The Bank is said to be the largest international financer to the road sector development programme since 1997. It has so far disbursed 13.3 billion Br for the implementation of the programme.

The World Bank has provided lending for more than 150 projects in Ethiopia. The portfolio has 26 active projects with a commitment value of more than seven billion dollars as of April 2015.

In an exclusive interview with Fortune, the country manager said that his next stop would be Pretoria, South Africa. He will be posted there, serving as the country director for seven countries namely, South Africa, Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Swaziland.

“The new country director will be chosen within the next two or three weeks. It takes time as it is a rigorous and competitive election process,” according to Guang.


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