Ethiopia plans to build 5,000 km railway line

[John Ashworth]

Ethiopia plans to build 5,000 km railway line
Tuesday 11 March 2008.

March 10, 2008 ( ADDIS ABABA) -- Ethiopia plans to build a railway network
spanning 5,000 km (3,107 miles) to connect different parts of the vast
Horn of Africa nation as it develops its energy and mineral resources, a
minister said on Monday.

Transport and Communication Minister Junedine Sado said work on the
railway line is expected to start in the near future and that the
government had established an agency to look into the construction of the
railway line.

"As the country develops its natural resources in the field of mining --
exploiting its vast deposits of iron ore in the west, gas and oil fields
in the east and commercial agriculture -- it requires an effective
transportation system," he told reporters.

Junedine did not say where the funding would come from.

But at least one foreign firm, the U.S. Ayr Logistics Limited has
expressed interest in investing in the project.

A joint Ethiopian-Djibouti railway line spanning over 1,000 kms connects
landlocked Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa with the Red Sea port of
Djibouti.

(Reuters)