JICA Provides Addis Ababa City with Road Maintenance Equipment

On September 09, 2023, JICA handed over 79 heavy machineries for road maintenance to the Addis Ababa City Roads Authority (AACRA). The handover ceremony took place in Meskel Square in the presence of H.E Ms Adanach Abiebie, Mayor of Addis Ababa, H.E Ambassador ITO Takako, Ambassador of Japan to Ethiopia, Eng, Moges Tibebu, Director General at AACRA and Dr. Katsuki Morihara, Chief Representative, JICA Ethiopia Office.

This Grant Aid, worth approximately 10 million USD (equivalent to 550 million ETB), is to support road construction in Addis Ababa and to strengthen the city’s road maintenance capacity. JICA has been working with AACRA to develop the capacity of its engineers through a technical cooperation project and providing training opportunities in Japan in addition to providing a JICA advisor to the AACRA office.

Roads play a vital role in the functionality of a city and JICA recognizes the importance of having the right equipment to continue to build new roads and to fix existing ones.

During the ceremony H.E. Ms. Adanach stated that the Ethio-Japan relationship has been strong for the last 90 years and Japan has been supporting Ethiopia in different areas. She acknowledged the deep respect that Ethiopians have for the support so far and added that discussions with the Japanese Ambassador are on-going for further cooperation. H.E Ambassador Ito mentioned the importance of roads in vitalizing the economy. Japan has been providing road construction equipment for Ethiopia in addition to support in other areas. Dr. Morihara explained JICA’s cooperation with AACRA and the Ethiopian Road Administration in the road sector. Engineer Moges, on his side, thanked the Japanese government for its comprehensive support in the road sector. He said the donated machineries are modern and of high quality, which can provide outstanding services while incurring lower maintenance costs.