Djibouti inaugurated today the final 104km section of the Ethio-Djibouti railway, which stretches from Dewele to Durale within its border.
The 3.4 billion US dollars Ethiopian section of the line was inaugurated on October 5, 2016.
The 752km Ethio-Djibouti line was named recently as one of the 7 most majestic infrastructure projects of 2016.
The line is planned as Ethiopia’s first step in a wider national and eventually regional rail network.
In June 2012 Ethiopian Railways Corporation signed a 1.7 billion US dollars contract for Turkish firm Yapı Merkezi to build a 389 km line starting at Awash on the Djibouti- Addis Ababa line and running north to Woldiya-Hara Gebeya.
Completion is planned for April 2018. China Communications Construction Co is building the next 220 km north from Hara Gebeya to Mekelle under a 1.5 billion US dollars contract.
A line is also planned to run from Hara Gebeya eastwards to the port of Tadjurah in Djibouti, providing a second route to the sea.
Translated and posted by Amare Asrat