Seven local and three Chinese companies have inked deals with the Ethiopian Roads Authority (ERA) for the construction of 1,022Km worth of road projects for a total of 25.8 billion Br. The projects were awarded to the companies days before the conclusion of the current fiscal year.

The companies were awarded the projects on June 11, 2020, with a ceremony that was held at the premises of the Authority. The companies are expected to deliver the projects within 18 months to four years, and the government will fully cover the total cost of the 15 projects out of existing budgetary resources.

Yotek Construction, DMC Construction, the Ethiopian Construction Works Corporation and Walabu Construction S.C., all local companies, secured two projects each, while Afework Gidey General Construction, Oromia Road Construction Enterprise and Defence Construction each secured one project.

China Railway Seventh Group secured two projects, while China Civil Engineering Corporation and China Wu Yi obtained one project each. The Chinese companies secured the projects that cover 36.5pc of the total cost.

Except for one, all of the projects will be upgrades of gravel roads to asphalt concrete. The remaining project is for a gravel road. All of the projects include structural works, drainage systems and bridges.

Among the projects, the longest one is the maintenance of a 178Km asphalt road that stretches from Dodola to Guba. Afework Gidey General Construction was awarded the project for 202.7 million Br. The shortest road is the construction of an 8.7Km bypass road in Metu town. Oromia Roads Construction Enterprise was awarded the project for 661.8 million Br.

The most expensive project among the 15 is a road project that extends from Dire Dawa to Shinile. China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation was awarded the 17.3Km project for 76.3 million Br a kilometre. The cheapest project is the construction of a 61.7Km gravel road from Guba to Konge. The Ethiopian Construction Works Corporation will build this road for 3.3 million Br a kilometre.

Most of the projects were retendered due to failures in the previous bidding processes, according to Habtamu Tegegne, director-general of the Authority, which has a 53pc failure rate when it comes to that critical step.

"We want the signed projects to be kicked off before the conclusion of this fiscal year," he said.

In this fiscal year, the Authority signed a total of 30 projects, including the latest ones, and it is planning to sign agreements for 16 more projects before the end of this fiscal year.