Tuesday December 30, 2003

III^rd phase of Ring Road changes course

Redirected not to inconvenience donor embassies

By Groum Abate

The design of the final leg, which is the third phase of the Addis Ababa Ring Road construction that stretches from Megenagna to General Wingate Technical and Vocational School, is going to be revised after a series of talks held between officials of City Government of Addis Ababa and concerned bodies that would be affected by the design of the road.
Sources told Capital that the original plan of the ring road consisted of 13.6 Km segment that stretched from Megenagna to General Wingate Technical and Vocational School, passing through the French, British and Italian embassies and Addisu Gebeya. It will now be redirected so that it would not inconvenience the three embassies.
According to our sources the three embassies negotiated with the city mayor for the change in the plan. These same sources disclosed that the new proposed road segment eventually takes the Ring Road at the back the hills immediately behind the three embassies, when the city eventually expands.
The city government announced some time back that the third phase of the ring road was delayed due to financial constraints. It was decided to continue construction after a Chinese firm offered to facilitate financing for the project.
The first two phases of the ring road run for 33 Km from Wingate to Megenagna via suburbs of Kaliti. China Road and Bridge Company (CRBC) undertook the construction of the two phases at a cost of over half a billion Birr paid by the city government.