CAIRO: As part of an ambitious plan to establish a land road from Cairo to Cape Town, two projects in Ethiopia worth $111 million to build international highways are underway, head of Egypt’s Arab Contractors Mohsen Salah told Youm7 Thursday.
The first road is 94.5-kilometer long, connecting the towns of Yabelo and Hagere Mariam at a cost of $54.5 million, and the second 72-kilometer long road will connect Hagere Mariam to Irgachefe at a cost of $56.5 million. All the said towns are in southern Ethiopia.
A total of 90 percent of the labor in the projects is Ethiopian, Salah said, adding that the first road will be inaugurated by the end of June, and the second road will be completed in June 2016.
The two roads represent two phases of a bigger project; Nairobi-Addis Ababa international road, according to Salah.
In April, Egypt inaugurated an international road between Qustul, a town in southern Egypt, and Ashkit, a city in northern Sudan, to facilitate trade between the two states.
On June 10, President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi emphasized the Cairo-Cape Town road during the African Blocs Conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, and proposed a maritime line between Victoria Lake and The Mediterranean Sea.