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Residents of Bale and Harer, which were once
separated by a day-long journey, can now visit each
other by car in a little over two hours, after
SATCON Construction completed its four-year effort
to build a 170km through the mountainous area of the
Oromia Regional State.
The Ethiopian Road Authority (ERA) last week
inaugurated the gravel road, which was built at a
cost of 290 mln Br. The road, stretching from Sheikh
Hussein to Michata, is already open for traffic.
After successfully facing the challenges of cutting
through hills that rise as high as 150m above sea
level with machinery and a massive workforce, the
road is a showcase of the capability of local
construction companies, Samson Wondimu, public
relations officer with ERA told Fortune.
While inaugurating the four-year project, Abadula
Gemeda, president of the Oromia Regional State,
describes the construction of this particular road
project as the most challenging since the Italian
invasion of Ethiopia. The region’s president said he
was amazed by the capacity of the local company to
complete the project.
Senior ministers such as Kassu Ilalla, minister of
Works and Urban Development and Sintayehu
Woldemichael, minister of Education were among the
present on December 19, 2007 to inaugurate the
Sheikh Hussein – Mecheta road project.
SATCON was founded 13 years ago by Samuel Teklay and
his family with a capital of 25 mln Br. It is now
listed as a grade one construction company, the
highest rating.
The completion of this road opens the door for more
and more tourists to visit the Dire Sheikh Hussein
Mosque in Bale zone, 470km south east of Addis Abeba,
a senior official with Ministry of Tourism and
Culture told Fortune.
Beza Consulting Engineers was hired to inspect and
consult over the 170km gravel road project.
Speaking to Fortune, Samuel Teklay, general
manger of SATCON Construction, was excited to meet
the deadline in which the project has been competed
above everything else. However, he described the
whole project life of this road which is seven
meters wide and sandwiched from both sides of the
ways with 1.5 meters shoulder of mountain, as the
very challenging and tough ones.
Currently, SATCON contracted from ERA a road
construction project Arba Minch-Ginka, in Southern
region, Woreta-Gobgob, in Amhara region and the Ali-Udera
road of in Gambella Region.
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