ADDIS ABABA, Oct. 28 (Xinhua) -- Around 33 million cars have used the Chinese built 76 km Addis Ababa-Adama toll expressway in a five-year period , an Ethiopian official said on Monday.
Speaking to Xinhua, Zahara Mohammed, Communications and Marketing Team Leader at Ethiopian Toll Roads Enterprise (ETRE), said around 33 million cars have used the toll expressway in the last five years, earning around 34 million U.S. dollars of revenues for the country .
The expressway, which is regarded as the first expressway in Ethiopia and East Africa, was partly funded by the Export-Import Bank of China and constructed by the China Communications Construction Company. The expressway went operational in September 2014.
Mohammed said the toll expressway which is open 24 hours a day, started initially with only 8,000 cars using the expressway daily, but currently 24,000 cars are using the expressway daily.
"ETRE is currently installing a modern payment system, free telephone hotline, and Variable Message Signs (VMS) to further upgrade the services given by the Addis Ababa-Adama toll expressway," the official said.
"Ethiopia has also recently inaugurated its second toll expressway connecting Ethiopia's eastern city Dire Dawa to the border town of Dewele neighboring Djibouti, giving boost to Ethiopia's export-led economic development," said Mohammed.
In June, Ethiopia inaugurated the 220-km Dire Dawa- Dewele toll road that connects landlocked Ethiopia to ports in Djibouti.
Mohammed also said Ethiopia plans to earn a combined revenue of 13.5 million U.S. dollars from the 76 km Addis Ababa-Adama toll expressway and the 220 km Dire Dawa-Dewele toll expressway in the current Ethiopian Fiscal Year 2019/2020, which started on July 8.
