African Intelligence reports that a proposal has been made to open up the market in the railway transport sector so that private companies can compete with the state-owned Ethiopian Railway Corporation.
A group of experts from the transport and logistics sectors submitted the recommendation to the Ministry of Transport.
It is said that the group’s proposal calls for the establishment of an authority under the Ministry to be responsible for the supervision of the railway sector.
The regulatory authority is said to be responsible for railway development, networks, licensing of stations and registration of new railway lines and new operators.
It is stated that the Ministry of Transport and Logistics together with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) compiled and prepared a report last month that “will help to improve the railway sector”.
It has been said that a budget of 2.6 billion dollars has been reserved for the process of opening up the sector to private companies.
Ethiopia’s export and income business
Ethiopia’s export and import trade has reached more than 16 million metric tons, and it is expected to double in recent years.
The Minister of State for Transport and Logistics, Dengue Boru, said that Djibouti port currently handles 95 percent of Ethiopia’s incoming and outgoing trade, and that this is not enough considering the size of the country’s economy.
For this reason, the Minister of State had previously said in a workshop on the sector that it is important to reform the transport sector.
He said that in order to do this effectively, an improved logistics system is needed and it is necessary to make basic improvements in rail and road transport.
The Ethio-Djibouti train line has speed limitations due to the weight of the livestock it transports and various reasons