The Ethiopian Road Fund Office has collected 1.4 billion Br in revenues, 88pc of its budget, in the first half of this fiscal year. The Office planned to pay 1.3 billion Br to government road authorities in the first half of the year, however, it only paid 413 million Br, 31pc of its target. The reason for the shortfall is contractors failing to provide certification that is approved by project consultants on the performance of their projects, according to the Office. The Office has carried out maintenance work on 3,721.8Km of roads, achieving 80.4pc of its plan. The Fund, which was established in 1997 by a private-public partnership, is intended to serve as a financial platform for road maintenance and road safety measures. During the last fiscal year, the total road network of the country reached 138,127Km, a nine percent increase over last year.
