AfDB approves US$104 million funding to improve power supply in Ethiopia

The African Development Bank (AfDB) on Wednesday announced it had approved 104 million U.S. dollars in funding to improve power supply in Ethiopia.

The AfDB said in a press statement that the money would go to financing a transmission project to improve power supply in eastern Ethiopia.

The transmission project would improve access to clean and reliable electricity supply by increasing the capacity of the power grid in eastern Ethiopia, the bank said.

The project will involve the construction of 157 km of 400-kilovolt double-circuit transmission lines and associated sub-stations in Harar, Jijiga and Fafem cities in eastern Ethiopia.

The project will serve as a take-off point for future power interconnection to Somalia and contribute to the Horn of Africa Regional Initiative, helping address the drivers of fragility and conflict as well as facilitating regional economic integration and trade, the statement said.

The Ethiopian government previously announced its plan to increase the country’s export revenue from electric power to 400 million U.S. dollars within the coming ten years.