Berbera–Ethiopia highway set to turn Somaliland into “major regional trading hub”Work has begun on the construction of a 250km dual carriageway between the Somaliland Port City of Berbera and Ethiopian border, to be funded by the UAE and the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development Construction Company. Robleh Mohamud Raghe, an analyst and former consultant to the Somaliland presidency, told a French radio station: “The highway will turn Berbera into a major regional trading hub.”There is presently only one road running southwest from Berbera to Hargeisa, the capital of Somaliland, and the Ethiopian border. It is a tarmac road, but as with almost all of Somaliland’s 15,000km road network it is poorly maintained and can only deal with low tonnage vehicles. The company running Berbera Port is now 51% owned by DP World, with Somaliland holding 30% of the shares, and Ethiopia 19%. Image: The highway will connect Somaliland’s capital of Hargeisa with Berbera and Ethiopia (Retlaw Snellac/ CC BY 2.0)Further reading:

Source: Ethiopian News March 01, 2019 14:03 UTC