The African Development Bank Group has approved 214.47 million US dollars in concessional financing to advance the second phase of the South Sudan-Ethiopia-Djibouti Transport Corridor, a regional initiative intended to improve connectivity and lower transport costs across the Horn of Africa.

The funding includes 181.5 million US dollars for Ethiopia, 29.71 million US dollars for Djibouti, and 1.96 million US dollars for South Sudan. An additional 1.30 million US dollars for South Sudan will be sourced from the Bank Group’s Transition Support Facility, which targets countries experiencing fragility.

Phase II of the corridor programme introduces a series of infrastructure upgrades across the three countries. Ethiopia will construct a sixty-seven-kilometre expressway and deploy intelligent transport systems, alongside work on fifty kilometres of feeder roads. Djibouti’s allocation will support improvements to the eighteen-kilometre Dikhil-Mouloud section and fifteen kilometres of feeder routes. South Sudan will update technical studies for the planned upgrade of the two hundred eighty-kilometre Kapoeta-Boma-Raad road.

Mike Salawou, Director for Infrastructure, Cities and Urban Development at the Bank, said the corridor is expected to strengthen links with Djibouti’s ports for landlocked states, enhance trade volumes, and connect production centres to regional markets. He also noted its importance for agricultural and livestock value chains serving communities along the route.

The project includes capacity-building measures to support technical skills and institutional development. Ethiopia will establish and equip a new automotive and engineering technical and vocational training centre, with training programmes for three hundred women and youth in agro-industrial skills and entrepreneurship. Djibouti will facilitate professional internships for ten engineers, while South Sudan will receive support to reinforce the competencies of its Ministry of Roads and Bridges and national Roads Authority. Personnel in road agencies in Ethiopia and Djibouti will also participate in additional training programmes.