ADDIS ABABA: – Efforts are underway to meet the road network infrastructure 200 thousand kilometers at the end of Second Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP-II) which currently stands at 121,171 kilometers, Ethiopian Roads Authority said.
Dereje Hailu, Communication Directorate Team Leader with the Authority told The Ethiopian Herald that during the first growth and transformation plan (GTP-I), the plan of road networking was to reach 100,000 kilometers and the plan was successfully achieved.
He added using the GTP-I performance as initial plan, the government has planned to double the total road network at the end of GTP-II, to reach 200 thousand kilometers.
According to Dereje currently the country’s total road network reaches 121,171 kilometers both asphalt and gravel road.
The authority is striving to wind up the ongoing construction of the remaining about 80,000 kms of road with in the remaining 2 years of the GTP II period, he indicated.
During the downfall of the dictatorial regime in 1991, Ethiopia’s overall road network did not exceed18,081 kilometers, of which only 20 percent of the total road was in a good condition, while the remaining 80 percent in a bad condition to give ordinary transport service except for emergency purposes, he added.
To expand the road network infrastructure by solving the problems of that time, government launched the Road Sector Development Program (RSDP) in 1997, which during that time, the total road network of the country was limited to 26,550 kilometers only, Dereje stated. According to him the RSDP has currently reached on its fifth phase and played a vital role in dramatically transforming the road network of the country from its lowest level and it exceeds 121 000 kilometers during the last 20 years of performance.
As a result of the expansion of road sector development, the aggregate road expansion has risen from 24.1 percent to 102.8 percent per 1000 kilometers and the portion of roads on good condition has risen from 22 percent to 72 percent. Over the years, the road network has grown by an average of over 8.2 percent annually, Dereje stated.
The asphalt road of the country reaches 14, 632 kilometers from 3, 542 in 1992, he added.
Dereje restated that before 1992, there were no local road contractors and consultants on the sector, but currently, 105 local road contractors and 57 consultants are participating in the construction of roads, buildings and bridges as well as road maintenance throughout the country, the team leader added.
Out of the 54 road contractors participating in various road projects under the authority, 31 of them are local, he said. According to Dereje this indicates that the road sector development is not limited to road infrastructural expansion but also technology transfer, promotion of local private sector investors and overall economic development of the country.
Not only domestic road networking, currently Ethiopia’s road network focuses connecting with its neighbors, with Sudan, Kenya, Djibouti, Somalia and South Sudan with Asphalt concrete road development, Dereje stated.