The African Development Bank has approved $232 million in loans and grants to Ethiopia to fund the expansion of the country's electricity grid.
Earlier this year, Addis Ababa launched a five-year economic development plan encompassing a massive expansion of the country’s infrastructure. The plan looks to boost Ethiopia’s power production from 2,000 MW to 10,000 MW; and it also includes the construction of 2,395 kilometres of railway lines.
Ethiopia wants to expand electricity coverage to 75 per cent of the population from 41 per cent currently.
The Tunis-based African Development Bank (AfDB) approved a $143.44 million loan and an $88.75 million grant to finance the electricity transmission system improvement project, which consists of the construction, on a turnkey basis, of four 230-kV transmission lines and related substations.
The project, which is scheduled to finish in August 2013, will see 948 kilometres of cables laid, eight new substations built and another 11 upgraded. The lines will connect areas in the north, east and south-west of the country.
Ethiopia plans to spend $12 billion over 25 years on realising its ambition to become a power exporter to Sudan and Kenya, a plan which is currently hampered by the lack of transmission lines.
In line with its strategy to accelerate Africa's development by boosting its energy infrastructure, the AfDB approved over $1 billion in energy projects across the continent during the last few weeks.
Aside from Ethiopia, the projects are located in Egypt, the DRC, Kenya and Tanzania.
