Ethiopian Counterparts Attend Training on Landslide Countermeasures in Japan

National Road No. 3 which connects Addis Ababa with one of the largest grains producing areas and an important route to transport oil from Sudan to Ethiopia was constructed through a series of Japanese Grant projects worth 250 million USD in total. The road is continually under threat from large-scale landslides at Abay Gorge. Additionally, the 80km road between Jimma and Chida, which is under construction through an approximately 100 million USD concessional loan from JICA is also located in an area with a high risk of landslides.

To mitigate the landslide problem JICA started working the Ethiopian Road Authority (ERA) in 2010. Since then, JICA has assigned Japanese experts to ERA to exchange knowledge and experience, sent ERA staff for training to Japan and provide different equipment to ERA. However, landslide countermeasure work is a relatively new experience to Ethiopia and there is still a shortage of skilled manpower and technology to address the problem sufficiently.

At the request of ERA, JICA organized a country focus training on planning and construction of landslide countermeasure works on trunk roads starting in 2020. The last two trainings were conducted virtually because of the COVID-19 pandemic. This year the training was organized in Kanazawa, Japan from July 15 to 30, 2023. Nine officials from ERA and one from the Space Science and Geospatial Institute, the relevant department for landslide control in Ethiopia, participated on the program.

In this training, participants learnt how to plan and implement appropriate landslide countermeasures by creating topographic maps using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
The trainees had a field trip to Hakusan National Park to observe drainage protection, tunnel protection, rock protection, avalanche protection, and other construction methods. They also observed concrete retaining walls, which are very different from those in Ethiopia, and learned how to predict damage by observing cracks and water flow on retaining walls and roads and UAV operation.

The knowledge and skill that the Engineers are receiving will be highly beneficial to maintaining the National Road No. 3, Jimma-Chida Road as well as other roads throughout the country.