Ethiopia now has the distinction of being the first Sub-Saharan African country to have a metro system, which at full capacity, will transport 1 million people per day, reports CNN.
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Like many cities throughout Africa, Ethiopia has long relied on taxis or minibuses for transport, but with a congested city in Addis Ababa, these taxis often end up inching along in traffic.
Three years ago, government leaders decided to partner with the Chinese in order to make a lasting investment in the country.
Ethiopian Railways Corporation CEO Getachew Betru explains, “The light rail is not a commercial business, it is a social infrastructure. Economically it’s not very expensive; the longest you go, you pay nothing more than 30¢.
“It is reliable, you can time yourself to go anywhere you want to go. So the convenient effect will give an added value to the city of Addis.”
Echoing the accessibility of the metro system, Ethiopian Minister of Transport Ato Workeneh Gebeyehu said, “When the government thought of constructing this, it was for low income people, the people who are using the minibuses.
“The majority of the users who move from the city [and] travel from here to there, [are] people who are working in the factories, government offices and so on and so forth…. Most of them cannot afford expensive transportation.”
Minibus driver Yared Tesfaye welcomes the new system, saying that it is clear the metro will complement his business when one considers the numbers.
“The train will not solve all transportation issues; its users are mostly long distance travelers. People use taxis firstly because it’s cheap, secondly because they stop frequently between small distances,” he says.
“In Addis Ababa there’s a population of 4 million people of which 3.5 million are minibus taxi users. The train is expected to transport around 1.5 million people. We taxi drivers will probably transport the rest.”
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View Comments
RSA already had Gautrain Metro years ago.
But South Africa has that...how ill informed are these CNN reporters.
The question or the issue here is not to have the train or anything for that matter; Africans simply dont' learn, even from the simplest example. African leaders travel round the world almost non-stop, but are incapable of emulating the best examples they see all so obviously in many parts of those countries they trave to.
A train from and by China...???? REALLY? Let's see how long that will be operational. T
he thing with our leaders is that they don't care about the, "AFTER" as long as the chinese have paid them their cut, that's all that matters, the rest can go too hell.
In fact the whole aim of undertaking the so-called infrastructure development is not for what it's needed for, but for how much the politicians will pocket out of such projects.
A few people enjoy it while currently 15 millions people on critical man made and natural disaster famines
The transformation was based ethnic groups turn in to an ultimate racism
Actualite du jour
South Africa is not sub-sahara Africa, it's Southern Africa. Before you criticize, try to read the whole title.
South Africa is not sub-sahara Africa, it's Southern Africa. Before you criticize, try to read the whole title.
Train from China has the good engineering.
Try to acknowledge the effort in the right direction. Transportation is one of the best way to fight hunger.
@Eddy lLunga... South Africa is sub Saharan. ....sub means below the Sahara....odd ur the only one claimin otherwise.