Transport in Ethiopia is overseen by theMinistry of Transport and Communications. Over the last years, theEthiopian federal authorities have significantly increased funding for rail and road construction to build an infrastructure, that allows bettereconomic development.
Ethiopia is building astandard gauge railway network, theNational Railway Network of Ethiopia, planned to consist of up to 6,000 km of railways in a number of years. The railway network serves a strategic goal to allow Ethiopia a sustainable and stableeconomic development. By 2030, the Ethiopian government hopes to invest about $65 billion into its transportation.[1] The railway network's primary purpose is then both to connectlandlockedEthiopia to theworld market by ensuring a seamless access to one or severalsea ports fortrade and for transporting mostimports andexports. Therail transport ofgoods appears favorable – if compared toroad transport – in terms of volume, costs, safety and speed of transportation for both imports and exports. The primary port for Ethiopia is thePort of Djibouti inDjibouti. More than 95% of Ethiopia'strade passes through Djibouti.[2][3]
The port of Djibouti is served by one international railway, theelectrified standard gauge 756 km longAddis Ababa – Djibouti Railway (of which 656 km run in Ethiopia). This railway has officially been opened in October 2016 but it is in trial service with no regular traffic in 2017. Once operational by the end of 2017 or in 2018, it will allow passenger transport and a travel time from Addis Ababa toDjibouti City in less than twelve hours with a designated speed of 120 km/hour.[4]
Another railway, theAwash – Hara Gebeya Railway will go into trial service over its first 270 km in 2018. This second railway links Addis Ababa and the Addis Ababa – Djibouti Railway with the north of Ethiopia. Once operational over its first 270 km, possibly 2018 or 2019, it will allow both freight and passenger transport. A train ride from Addis Ababa to the twin cities ofKombolcha andDessie will be possible in around six hours with a designated speed of 120 km/hour.[5]
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Road projects now[when?] represent around a quarter of the annual infrastructure budget of the Ethiopian federal government. Additionally, through the Road Sector Development Program (RSDP), the government has earmarked $4 billion to construct, repair and upgrade roads over the next decade.[6]
As the first part of a 10-year to 15 year Road Sector Development Program, between 1997 and 2002 the Ethiopian government began a sustained effort to improve its infrastructure of roads. As a result, as of 2002 Ethiopia has a total (federal and regional) 33,297 km of roads, both paved and gravel. The share of federally managed roads in good quality improved from 14% in 1995 to 31% in 2002 as a result of this program, and to 89% in 2009[7] the road density increased from 21 km per 1000 km2 (in 1995) to 889 per 1000 km2 (in 2009) however, this is much greater than the average of 50 km per 1000 km2 for Africa.[8]
The Ethiopian government had begun the second part of the Road Sector Development Program, which was completed in 2007. This had involved the upgrading or construction of over 7,500 km of roads, with the goal of improving the average road density for Ethiopia to 35 km per 1000 km2, and reducing the proportion of the country area that is more than 5 km from an all-weather road from 75% to 70%.[9]
In 2024, theMinistry of Transport and Communications announced that they will ban combustion engined vehicle imports.[10] As of February 2024, the date and details of the ban have not been released.
According to theGovernment of Ethiopia, it has spent over 600 billionbirr (US$50 billion, €30 billion) on infrastructure since 1990.
Major roads include:
No 1: north east from Addis Ababa 853 km viaAdama andAwash toBure onEritrean border
No 2: north from Addis Ababa 1071 km viaDessie,Mek'ele andAdigrat toAxum
No 3: north west from Addis Ababa across theBlue Nile atDejen and again atBahir Dar east aroundLake Tana 737 km toGondar. Designated part of theCairo-Cape Town Trans-African Highway 4 (TAH 4)
No 4: west from Addis Ababa 445 km viaNekemte toGimbi
No 5: west from Addis Ababa 510 km viaJimma toMetu
No 6: south west from Jimma 216 km toMizan Teferi
No 7: south fromMojo 432 km viaShashamane andSodo toArba Minch. Part of road between Mojo and Shashamane is designated part of theCairo-Cape Town Trans-African Highway 4 (TAH 4)
No 8: south from Shashamane 214 km viaAwasa toHagere Mariam. Designated part of theCairo-Cape Town Trans-African Highway 4 (TAH 4)
No 9: south from Adama 77 km toAsella
No 10: east from Awash 572 km viaHarar andJijiga toDegehabur
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TheAddis Ababa–Adama Expressway was completed in 2014 as the first expressway in Ethiopia. In December 2015, construction began on a second expressway betweenAwasa andMojo, where it will connect to the existing expressway.[11]
In addition, the Ethiopian Roads Authority (ERA) has undertaken a three-year project to upgrade over 370 km of roads in the country. Contracts have been signed with the Ethiopian Defense Construction, China Railway Engineering, Eney Construction, China Wuyi, Yotek Construction and FAL General Contractor.[12][13]
It is said that Ethiopia has the highest rates of traffic fatalities per vehicle in the world. This is due to many factors. For example, the roads are poorly maintained, lightened and marked; which are major factors in road accidents. Another major factor is the people themselves, who ignore the rules of the road. Their disregard of road safety puts every other driver at risk. Due to this, foreigners are advised to keep a safe distance from the car in front of them because the driving is unpredictable; anything can happen in the blink of an eye. Even the surroundings involving transport can be incredibly dangerous. For example, there are instances when carjackings and robberies occur on highways or streets that are away from the public eye. Due to this, people are forced to be highly alert of their surroundings, such as checking to make sure no one is lurking around their vehicle before entering and avoiding nighttime travel.[14]
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Ethiopia islandlocked and was by agreement withEritrea using the ports ofAsseb andMassawa until 1997; since theEritrean-Ethiopian War, Ethiopia has used the port ofDjibouti for nearly all of its imports. Ethiopia increasingly relies on inlanddry ports for distributing cargo, after cargo arrived from Djibouti. The main Ethiopian dry port isModjo dry port.
TheBaro River is the only river used for transport.
Total:9 ships (with a volume of 1,000 GT or over) 81,933 GT/101,287 DWT (2003 est.)
ships by type:cargo ship 7;container ship 1;petroleum tanker 1;roll-on/roll-off ship 3 (1999 est.), 1 (2003 est.)
As of 2021, Ethiopia has 57 airports, of which 17 have paved runways .[15] TheAddis Ababa Airport is the largest airport in Ethiopia and one of Africa's biggest and busiest. It is the main hub of Ethiopian Airlines, the national airline that serves destinations in Ethiopia and throughout the African continent, as well as nonstop service to Asia, Europe, North America and South America. The airport is also the base of the Ethiopian Aviation Academy. As of June 2018, nearly 450 flights per day were departing from and arriving at the airport. In 2018, about 12 million passengers were carried on domestic and international flights.
total:14
over 3,047 m:3
2,438 to 3,047 m:5
1,524 to 2,437 m:5
914 to 1,523 m:1 (2003 est.)
total:68
over 3,047 m:3
2,438 to 3,047 m:2
1,524 to 2,437 m:13
914 to 1,523 m:27
under 914 m:23 (2003 est.)
Ethiopia and Djibouti's economies are reliant on each other with about 70 percent of all trade through Djibouti's port coming from its land-locked neighbour.
Currency:Ethiopian birr | |
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This article incorporatespublic domain material fromThe World Factbook.CIA.
