A groundbreaking ceremony for the road linking Ethiopia with Somaliland (Berbera Corridor) took place on Thursday.Ethiopian delegation led by Mustafa Muhumed Omer, Deputy Chief Administrator of Somali regional state, attended the event.
It is to be recalled that Ethiopia, Somaliland and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) signed an agreement a year ago to jointly develop the port of Berbera.
The agreement created new company that manages Berbera Port; the ownership shares of the company has been allocated with DP World taking 51% ownership of the company, Somaliland will own 30% of the shares, and Ethiopia will own 19% of the shares.
The agreement calls for infrastructure investment of $442 million to upgrade the existing Berbera Port and to build a new adjacent Container Port.
It includes
millions of dollars more to build a new road from Berbera to the Ethiopian border town of Wajale.
The expanded Berbera port and the new road will provide Ethiopian government and Ethiopian business community to have increased capacity to import and export merchandize to support continues growth of the Ethiopian economy.
In a related development, Deputy Chief Administrator of Somali regional state, Mustafa Muhumed Omar, met with Somaliland President Muse Bihi Abdi.
