ADDIS ABABA (HAN) November 23, 2015 – Public Diplomacy and Regional Stability Initiatives News. The Ethio-Djibouti railway, although it has yet to be completed, has begun operations to help transport emergency food supplies for people in drought affected areas.
Following the arrival in Djibouti of the first supplies of the additional wheat purchased by the Government, a first train load of 1125 tons of wheat was moved to Merebe Mermersa, a little over 100 kms south of Addis Ababa on Saturday (November 21).
The 756 km Ethio-Djibouti railway is being constructed by China Railway Group (CREC) and the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) and the companies and other stakeholders made special to operate the freight transportation service.
Netsanet Hussein, Ethio-Djibouti Rail Project Manager said “We have seen the first cargo that is from Djibouti to Ethiopia. We are proud of this. From now on, we will continue the operation.”
The Project Manager said “We are not in our full capacity for the moment, we are now about 40 percent of our capacity. We will continue and within few days we will reach our maximum capacity,” he said.
He said the train took 16 hours, but once full capacity was reached, the time would be reduced to 10 to 12 hours. The Project Manager for (CREC) said the company has mobilized specialized personnel from its headquarters in China to ensure the sound operation of the temporary freight transportation.
He said “We have some remaining works, we have been trying to intensify our efforts, to mobilize more resources to complete it. For this particular purpose, we have arranged the temporary loading and unloading facilities in order to make sure that the cargo arrives safely on time.” MFA
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