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| Ambassador's Speech>2011 >110308 | |||||
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| at the Signing Ceremony for the Exchange of Notes for the Detailed Design Study for an Alternative Awash Bridge at MOFED on 8 March, 2011 |
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| Your Excellency, Ato Ahmed Shide, State Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, Endeman Aderachelu. This is the second time for me to sit here to sign an Exchange of Notes with Your Excellency. Indeed, this is one of the most pleasant duties for a Japanese Ambassador to Ethiopia. The notes we have just signed are for a detailed design study for the reconstruction of the Awash Bridge with funding up to forty-five million Japanese yen, approximately nine million Ethiopian birr, to be extended to the Ethiopian Government. This is the initial step of the project which will lead to the construction of an alternative bridge and route to replace the existing one. As you are all aware, the Awash Bridge is located on trunk road #1, about 250 km from here. This road, connecting Addis Ababa and Djibouti, is an important trade corridor for this country. Almost all imports and exports are transported along this route. In that sense it is an artery for the Ethiopian economy. However, the bridge is old, built in 1971, narrow, and precarious with various structural problems such as cracks and distortions. Therefore, only one-way traffic is allowed at the moment, and heavy vehicles face a risk, when crossing the river. This situation has created a bottleneck for the traffic on this trunk road for many years. In other words, the renovation of the bridge will ensure great economic and social benefits not only for the region but for the entire nation. Road transportation along trunk road #1 will be drastically improved with a new bridge and an alternative route over the Awash River. Commodities, products, people and information will move faster, more efficiently and on a larger scale between the capital and the eastern part of Ethiopia, as well as between Ethiopia and Djibouti, which will benefit the entire Ethiopian economy. Excellency, Ladies and Gentlemen, The Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP), formally adopted last December, provides the guiding vision for the nation’s economic and social development. Nowadays, everyone talks about the GTP, not only in the federal government but also in regional state governments and even in woredas. Both politics and the economy in this country are revolving around the GTP as the center. The GTP puts forward the very ambitious target of doubling the real GDP in five years, and agriculture and rural development, as well as industrialization are its two main pillars. In achieving this target, infrastructure is crucial. To be more precise, improving infrastructure is a prerequisite for economic growth both in agriculture and in industry. In particular, road transportation is critically important for economic growth and social welfare here in Ethiopia. In this context, it is to be recalled that the Ministry of Transport developed the Ethiopian Road Sector Development Program (RSDP) and has been implementing it, phase by phase, since 1997. Several encouraging road projects have been implemented to date, such as the Modjo-Awash-Gewane-Mille route, an important trade corridor. In this Program, Japan has played its own role, as exemplified by the rehabilitation work on the Addis-Gohatsion-Dejen route of 221 km along trunk road #3 together with the construction of the new Abay (Hidassie) Bridge. For this project, Japan extended grants, amounting to 12 billion Japanese yen, about 2.4 billion Ethiopian birr. In addition, Japan has extended technical cooperation by dispatching an expert to the Ethiopian Roads Authority (ERA) for capacity building for bridge maintenance. Japan has also sent an expert on landslides to ERA and is preparing to send more experts together with the supply of equipment worth one billion Japanese yen, about 200 million Ethiopian birr. Currently, in line with the GTP, the Fourth RSDP has been designed and launched as the Universal Rural Road Access Program. In this fourth program, the existing road networks on the federal and regional levels of 49,000 km will be extended to 64,500 km in five years. If woreda-level roads are included, the total length of road networks in Ethiopia is planned to be 136,000 km in 2015. This is a very ambitious target, and the challenges are formidable. In order to help achieve this broad and heavy task, Japan remains committed to support the Program. Japan’s decision to undertake a detailed design study for the reconstruction of the Awash Bridge at this juncture is part of its commitment. Excellency, Ladies and Gentlemen, The Embassy of Japan and the JICA office in Addis Ababa are now reviewing Japan’s ODA policy toward Ethiopia. Now that the GTP is approved as the five-year national guideline, we feel strongly that the ODA programs we have implemented to date in this country should be restructured so that Japan can help Ethiopia more effectively and efficiently to achieve the goals of the GTP. In this process, please rest assured that we will maintain close contact with Your Excellency so that our two governments continue to work together in better coordination for the economic and social development of Ethiopia. Amesagenalehu. |
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