ETHIOPIAN Railways Corporation (ERC) is seeking to resume construction on the abandoned project to build a 392km standard-gauge line from Awash to Kombolcha and Hara Gebeya in the north of the country.
ERC has launched a tender inviting international bidders to submit expressions of interest for a consultancy contract to conduct a loss assessment and to support the resumption of construction of the railway, which was abandoned in 2020. The deadline for submissions is January 14.
The project was previously led by Turkish contractor Yapi Merkezi under an EPC turnkey contract starting in 2015 after a financing package for the $US 1.7bn project was agreed with Turkish Exim Bank, Credit Suisse and European export credit agencies. Systra acted as a consultant on the scheme and there was significant progress, with most of the infrastructure completed, including tracklaying on some sections.
However, work came to a sudden halt after war broke out in northern Ethiopia in November 2020, leading Yapi Merkezi to abandon the project due to safety concerns. Fighting took place near the construction sites and Yapi Merkzi has claimed that equipment was stolen and infrastructure was damaged. The war officially ended in November 2022, although the region is continuing to suffer the consequences of the conflict, which is estimated to have caused $US 22bn of direct damage and $US 6bn of economic losses, accounting for 20.4% and 5.5% of the country’s GDP respectively.
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