The two-year, comprehensive feasibility study will assess the proposed project's technical, economic, environmental and social viability
The African Development Bank's Board of Directors has approved a $1.2 million grant to Ethiopia's government to finance a feasibility study for construction of a standard-gauge railway (SGR) link between Ethiopia and neighboring Sudan, the Bank said in a statement sent to Addis Standard.
The grant, from the African Development Fund, the Bank Group's concessional-rate lending arm, would cover 35% of the total estimated $3.4 million cost of the study.
According to the document presented to directors of the African Development Fund, the absence of a regional arterial route linking Ethiopia, Sudan and other countries in the Horn of Africa is a brake on trade, development and regional integration.
The feasibility study's findings will be keenly awaited because its implementation would benefit a large proportion of Ethiopia's 110 million people and 43 million inhabitants of Sudan, as well as populations in the wider region.
The proposed project is aligned with the Bank's Country Strategy Paper 2016-2020 for Ethiopia.
