By Enyichukwu Enemanna
The African Development Bank (AfDB) will make a financial contribution of not less than $500 million towards the financing of a new airport to be located in Ethiopia, expected to be the largest in Africa, the bank announced on Monday.
“The bank has itself earmarked up to $500 million, subject to board approval, to anchor the funding of this transformational regional integration project,” AfDB said in a statement.
2029 has been set as deadline for completion of the project.
Meanwhile, the state-owned Ethiopian Airlines has reached an agreement for the design of the four-runway airport to be sited near Bishoftu town, about 45 km southeast of the capital Addis Ababa.
Ethiopian Airlines has said it will contribute 20% of the funding for the project estimated to cost $10 billion. The rest of the finance will come from creditors.
The airport will have an initial capacity of 60 million passengers annually, with expansion planned to reach 110 million.
Construction of the first phase is scheduled to begin late this year.
AfDB had last week announced that it will lead efforts to raise $7.8 billion for the project.
The airport will handle international, regional, and cargo traffic when completed which the existing Bole International Airport will focus on domestic operations.
