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| Ambassador's Speech>2011 >110609 | |||||
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at the Signing Ceremony for Three Grant-in-aid Projects |
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Your Excellency, Ato Sufian Ahmed, Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, Endemen Aderachehu. This is my third time to sign grant notes here at MOFED. It is a great honor for me to share this task today with Your Excellency. The notes we have just signed and exchanged are for three grant-in-aid projects for which the Government of Japan will extend 6.567 billion Japanese Yen [equivalent to 1.392 billion Ethiopian Birr] to the Government of Ethiopia. In more concrete terms, the following three projects will be funded:  Rehabilitation of the Trunk Road, Phase IV (the segment between Dejen and Lumame) with 4.158 billion Japanese Yen [equivalent to 881.1 million Ethiopian Birr],Replacement of the Awash Bridge on the A1 Trunk Road with 1.201 billion Japanese Yen [equivalent to 254.5 million Ethiopian Birr], andConstruction of Secondary Schools in the Amhara Region with 1.208 billion Japanese Yen [equivalent to 255.98 million Ethiopian Birr].Two of these projects are related to road transportation and the other one education. The Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP) is now being implemented for agricultural and industrial development, these being the GTP’s two main pillars. In order to facilitate development in these two key sectors, however, it is crucial to have well developed economic and social infrastructure and human resources. Road networks are indispensible for both agriculture and industry to develop. The same can be said of human resource development through education. It is for this reason that the Japanese Government decided to support these projects. Now let me elaborate on each of them. Excellency, Ladies and Gentlemen, Japan has been engaged in road transportation development in this country for some time. It is well known that the Addis–Gohatsion–Dejen Trunk Road of 221 km was rehabilitated together with the construction of the New Abay (Hidassie) Bridge with Japanese grants totaling 12 billion Japanese Yen [about 2.4 billion Ethiopian Birr]. Japan has also been dispatching to the Ethiopian Roads Authority bridge management and maintenance experts as well as landslide experts with construction equipment worth one billion Japanese Yen [about 200 million Ethiopian Birr]. The project for which Japan is extending a grant this time is for the continuation of this rehabilitation project of the Trunk Road. Rehabilitation work will be conducted between Dejen and Lumame in the Amhara Region. This trunk road is a crucial link between the north-western part of Ethiopia and the rest of the country, and is especially important for distributing cereal crops. It is also an artery for the shipment of over 80 per cent of the country’s oil imports from Sudan. Since 1997, successive Road Sector Development Programs (RSDP) have been implemented in line with the goals of the then governing national economic plans. The current RSDP IV (2010-2015) is no exception, being aligned with the goals of the GTP. This program plans to extend the existing road networks both at federal and regional levels from the current 49,000 km to about 64,500 km in five years. This plan, however, seems very ambitious, and it will require concerted efforts by the Ethiopian Government and its development partners. Japan, as a long standing supporter of the sector, remains committed to assist the implementation of the RSDP IV. Excellency, Ladies and Gentlemen, I am pleased to recall that just three months ago we exchanged notes for the Detailed Design Study for the Alternative Awash Bridge. This initial step led to the current stage of the exchange of notes for the construction of an alternative bridge. The Awash Bridge, 250 km east of Addis, is located on an important trade corridor, connecting Addis Ababa and the Port of Djibouti. Most imports to and exports from Ethiopia are transported along this route over the Awash Bridge. However, since the bridge is old and has structural problems, heavy vehicles face a risk when crossing the Awash River. In addition, only one-way traffic is allowed at the moment. It is, therefore, timely to replace the bridge to ensure safe traffic flow. This will benefit the entire Ethiopian economy by enabling commodities, people and information to 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. Excellency, Ladies and Gentlemen, Education is a great challenge in Ethiopia. It is the key for sustainable development because human resources are the basis for nation building. Education is investment in people. It contributes to the overall efforts to fight backwardness and poverty by producing educated citizens, who in turn will play an important role in the country’s economic and social development. The Education Sector Development Program III (ESDP III, 2004-08) was the five-year plan to improve Ethiopia’s educational environment, including secondary education, so as to meet the demand of the economy for skilled manpower. In the program period, the enrolment rate at secondary schools made progress. The number of secondary school students at the national level increased from 0.95 million in 2004 to 1.68 million in 2008. In terms of the enrolment rate, the figure improved from 27.3% to 35.6% in five years. This is an impressive development but not sufficient. The GTP plans to raise the secondary school enrolment rate from 39.7% in 2010 to 62% in 2015. In order to help Ethiopia to achieve this target, Japan remains committed to support secondary education. With this project in the Amhara Region, eight secondary schools with 32 classrooms each will be newly constructed, and nine existing secondary schools will be expanded with four additional classrooms each. In total, 292 new classrooms will be made available together with school furniture and related equipment. This will be conducive to better access to secondary education. Japan has already been engaged in school construction projects in various regions with grants of 1.641 billion Japanese Yen [about 347.1 million Ethiopian Birr]. They include the construction of seven primary and secondary high schools in Addis Ababa with 600 million Japanese Yen [about 127 million Ethiopian Birr] and the construction of 38 primary schools in the Oromia Region with 1.041 billion Japanese Yen [about 220.1 million Ethiopian Birr]. Excellency, Ladies and Gentlemen, The Embassy of Japan and the JICA office in Addis Ababa have been reviewing Japan’s ODA policy toward Ethiopia for the past few months. We are almost at the final stage of this work. Now that the GTP is approved as the five-year national guideline, we feel strongly that our ODA programs should be so designed that Japan’s support can be more effective and efficient in assisting Ethiopia to implement the GTP. In this process, we will maintain close contact with Your Excellency and other ministries concerned so that our two governments continue to work together in better coordination for the economic and social development of Ethiopia. Amesegnalehu. |
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