Parliament Approves $275m Loan for Urban Project


Parliament Approves $275m Loan for Urban Project

A  275 million dollar loan agreement was approved by Parliament last week, to support the second phase of the Urban Water Supply & Sanitation Project. Set to be implemented over the next three years, the project follows negotiations between Ethiopia and the International Development Association (IDA). The Chief Whip Tesfaye Beljige (PhD), presented details of the loan agreement to lawmakers and said that the project focuses on enhancing the supply of clean drinking water and improving sanitation services through policies and programs. Tesfaye noted that the second phase of the project has been operational in previous years and emphasised that the additional loan agreement aims to complete the ongoing projects and address the budget shortfall. The terms of the loan include an annual interest rate of up to 0.5pc on the concessional loan and a service fee of up to 0.75pc for the management of the funds by the IDA. The loan has a grace period of six years and is to be repaid over 38 years.


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Yirgalem Hospital Inaugurates New Oxygen Production Plant

A new oxygen production plant has been inaugurated at Yirgalem Hospital Medical College in Sidama Regional State. The launch was attended by the regional state's chief administrator Desta Ledamo and Health Minister Mekdes Daba (PhD). Desta noted that a new kidney dialysis centre will soon be opened as well. Mekdes stated that the Ministry is working to increase the number of oxygen production facilities from the current 10 to 34 nationwide. The Yirgalem plant cost 86 million Br to build and h...


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Corridor Develops with Parking, Recklessness Concerns, Research Finds

Research involving 400 respondents across four first-round corridor development routes revealed major challenges to the initiative. The study, conducted by Shaka Analytics and ETC Institute in collaboration with the Addis Abeba City Transport Bureau, examined the impact of the program on transportation patterns, transit accessibility, and parking availability. The routes—Arat Kilo to Bole Deldey, Embassy of England to Arat Kilo, Mexico roundabout to Wello Sefer, and Piassa to Arat Kilo—we...


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Digitalisation Spreads to the Court System

Ethio telecom and the Amhara Regional State Supreme Court have agreed to implement a Smart Court project in Bahir Dar to modernize court operations using digital technology. This agreement includes building a modern network infrastructure, implementing cloud services, creating a modular data centre, establishing a network operations control centre, and connecting the region's courts with a secure digital network. The project is designed to facilitate secure digital information exchange betwee...