A study conducted on the Addis Ababa-Djibouti Railway line has found out the broader economic significance of the line prevails in freight and bulk shipments rather than passenger transportation, The Reporter has learnt.   

A new study by a local research firm has indicated that the Ethiopian railway operation has been suffering from recurrent power outages, exacerbated lack of sound legal system, least available maintenance facilities and most importantly the absence of funding.

While addressing the Ethio-Italian Business Forum on Thursday, Ahmed Shide, Minister of Finance, told Italian officials and business delegates that Ethiopia is about to pursue a railway project that connects Ethiopia with port cities of Eritrea.

The Ministry of Transport (MoT) disclosed that the construction of Ethiopia’s second railway project a.k.a. the Awash-Kombolcha-Woldia/Hara Gebeya railway project has made little progress in the past nine months due to financial shortages.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD) on Thursday disclosed that the Chinese government has agreed to restructure some of Ethiopia’s debt, including a USD four billion loan for a railway that stretches from Addis Ababa to Djibouti.

Amid request for budget subsidy and financial struggles looming over the enterprise, the Addis Ababa Light Railway Transit (AA-LRT) further encountered more problems due to employee strikes which stalled the operation for five hours on Wednesday, July 18, 2018.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD) and Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir discussed on a deal to build a railway line connecting the two countries on May 3, 2018. On his second foreign visit, Abiy and Al-Bashir discussed a host of issues including economic integration and military cooperation.

The Dire Dawa City Administration is going to draft a new master plan for the old commercial town in eastern part of Ethiopia.

China Railway, a Chinese construction company failed to accept a 1.61 billion birr building contract, The Reporter learnt. Even though the company managed to win the contract, a disagreement between the bidding entity — Public Procurement and Property Disposal Service and China Railway — led to a cancellation of the bid.