Ethiopia's road future?

Ethiopia is targeting a major investment in transport infrastructure as a means to boost its economy in the long term. The country's government has plans for a road building programme worth an impressive US$8.97 billion. The aim of the programme will be to build 82,500km of roads over a five year period. This will extend Ethiopia's road network from 49,000km at present to a total of 136,000km. Details are not available as yet as to when the tender process will start for major projects or for the split in investment between highways, main roads and rural links. Nor has the issue of funding been revealed at this stage although it seems likely that foreign investment will be called for and with the country's historical links to some European nations such as Italy, this may be one source. Toll roads may be one solution for Ethiopian highways and would attract private investment from foreign companies, however the structure of the road building programme has not been unveiled so far.