at the Signing Ceremony of the Exchange of Notes for Two Grant-in-Aid Projects at MOFED on 10 June, 2013

Your Excellency Ato Ahmed Shide, State Minister of Finance and Economic Development,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good Morning!  Endemen Arefedachehu!

This is my eighth time to attend the signing ceremony here at MOFED.  It is always a great honor for me to share this pleasant task with Your Excellency.

The Notes we have just signed and exchanged are for two grant-in-aid projects, for which the Japanese Government will extend to the Ethiopian Government 8.154 billion Japanese yen [equivalent to about 1.55 billion ETB at the current exchange rate*].  In more concrete terms, the following two projects are being funded:

1. Rehabilitation of Trunk Road #3 between Lumame and Debremarkos with 7.521 billion Japanese yen [equivalent to about 1.43 billion ETB]

1. Water supply in the southern part of the Amhara Region with 633 million Japanese yen [equivalent to about 121 million ETB]

The Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP) puts priority on food security and industrial development.  Indeed, road networks are indispensible for both agriculture and industry, while water supply is critical for people’s daily life and agriculture.  It is for these reasons that the Japanese Government decided to support these two projects.  Now let me elaborate on each.

Excellency, Ladies and Gentlemen,

First, the road rehabilitation project is a continuation of the on-going project along Trunk Road #3.  The rehabilitation work underway between Dejen and Lumame is in progress, and now we are about to start work on the Lumame-Debremarkos segment, based upon the detailed design work for which Japan extended a grant in December last year.  This project includes the following components, namely the construction of road structures and ancillary works including earth works, pavement works, bridges, culvert works, drainage, and traffic safety facilities.

Road networks are indispensible for sustainable development in Ethiopia.  Trunk Road #3, which connects Addis Ababa, Bahir Dahr, Gondar and Khartoum has strategic importance, linking not only the north-western part of Ethiopia with the rest of the country, but Ethiopia and Sudan as well.  It is crucial for the delivery of surplus cereal crops from the north to consumers in other parts of the country.  It is also an arterial route for the shipment of oil products from Sudan to Ethiopia.

Since 1998, Japan has been working on this road by extending 26.5 billion Japanese yen [equivalent to 5.05 billion ETB at the current exchange rate*] in grant-in-aid in four phases, to date.  This has covered rehabilitation work and the construction of the Millennium Bridge.  JICA has also been cooperating with the Ethiopian Roads Authority for bridge management and maintenance, as well as counter-landslide measures, through technical cooperation.

The current Road Sector Development Program (RSDP IV: 2009/10-2014/15),  aligned with the GTP, plans to extend the existing road networks both at federal and regional levels from 48,800 km in 2009/10 to about 64,500 km in five years.  The achievement during the past two years is encouraging as the road networks reached 56,190 km in 2011/12**.  This indicates faster progress than planned with a 47% implementation rate during the first two years of the GTP.  Japan, as a long standing supporter of the sector, will remain committed to completing its own projects in a timely manner.

Excellency, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I would now like to move to the second project.  Improving access to safe water is an important policy objective in Ethiopia.  Indeed, enormous efforts were made by the federal and regional governments during the PASDEP period (2005/06-2009/10).  As a result, access to potable water improved substantially from 36% to 68.5% on the national average.  However, the gap between urban and rural areas remains large.  In many local communities, access to potable water is still a great challenge.

The southern part of Amhara is no exception in this sense.  In this area, not only is access to water limited, but residents have to depend on unprotected water.  Therefore, waterborne diseases prevail, causing serious health problems among the residents.  In addition, women and children are forced to perform the heavy workload of fetching water, walking long distances every day.  This deprives school-age children, particularly girls, of an opportunity to go to school.

It is in such a context that this project will install water supply schemes in nine small towns located in the East and West Gojjam Zones, Amhara Region, where water supply is a serious issue.  The project includes the following components, namely drilling boreholes, the construction of water facilities, and training of residents for operation and maintenance of the facilities.  Through this project, access to safe water in the targeted communities will increase from 23% to 80%, and about 57,000 residents will enjoy a safe and reliable water supply.

Since 2005, Japan has been engaged in water supply projects in various regions of Ethiopia with grants of about six billion Japanese yen [equivalent to 1.14 billion ETB at the current exchange rate*].  They include the drilling and installation of water supply systems in Amhara, SNNPR, Afar, Oromia and Tigray, the supply of various items of equipment for exploring ground water resources, and the provision of training equipment for water resource engineers at the Ethiopian Water Technology Center (EWTEC).

Excellency, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Japan has been engaged with the economic and social development of Ethiopia for many years.  Last year we revised our ODA policy to Ethiopia to align it with the GTP, placing particular emphasis on food security and industrial development.  Infrastructure development and human resource development are also priority areas in our new policy.

In addition, at TICADV held in Yokohama early this month, Prime Minister Abe announced Japan’s new support package for Africa, amounting to 32 billion USD for the coming five years, which includes ODA, other official funds and the private sector funds.  One of the focuses of this package is to support improving the business environment in Africa by facilitating infrastructure and human resource development, institution building, etc.  Improved access to safe water for 10 million people in Africa is also part of the package.  I am sure that this will benefit Ethiopia, as its policy direction is exactly the same as the GTP.  Therefore, we will keep close contact with Your Excellency and other concerned ministries so that our two governments continue to work together in better coordination for the sustainable development of Ethiopia.

Thank you!  Amesegnalehu!