Ethiopian parliament approves infrastructure loan agreement with Chinese bank

ADDIS - Ethiopia's parliament on Tuesday approved a $250 million loan agreement made with China's Export-Import (Exim) Bank to finance major infrastructure construction in the country.

The loan agreement, already approved by the Ethiopian House of Peoples' Representatives, the lower house, would finance supply and construction of 400-kv power transmission projects of Genale Dawa III-Yirgalem II-Wolayita Sodo II-Hawassa II in the southern part of Ethiopia.

The agreement, signed in December in China, is composed of two major parts: $195 million dollars for building the transmission line and the remaining about $54 million for undertaking major substation parts of the project.

The Ethiopian Electric Power and China Engineering Corporation Limited have entered into agreement for Genale Dawa III-Yirgalem II-Wolayita Sodo II-Hawassa II back in September 2014, and another supplementary contract agreement a year after the first agreement.