Active Development AidData Chinese Aid

Chinese Government provides RMB 373.14 million grant -- via ETCA — for Railway Training Academy Construction Project

¥373.14M RMB

Funder	China Ministry of Commerce
Recipient Organization	Government of Ethiopia
Country	Ethiopia
Start Date	Dec 19, 2017
End Date	Aug 17, 2026
Duration	3,163 days
Number of Grantees	1
Roles	Recipient
Data Source	AidData Chinese Aid
Grant ID	`58787`

Grant Description

In January 2018, the Ethiopian Railway Corporation (ERC) announced that it would be building a Train Training Academy (also referred to as a Railway Academy and a Railway Training Academy) in Bishoftu at a cost of RMB 373.14 million with a grant from the Chinese Government. The grant agreement was signed by the Chinese Government and the Government of Ethiopia on December 19, 2017.

The grant proceeds were drawn at least in part from an Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement (ECTA) that the parties signed on May 12, 2017.

In 2018, a Chinese company had begun a study to determine a design for the academy and it was planning to release the design in the first six month of 2018.

However, the Railway Training Academy Construction Project encountered delays in 2018 and 2019 due to the Ethiopian Government's need to negotiate land agreements with 150 farmers near the project site in Bishoftu (for resettlement purposes).

According to a press release from the Ethiopian Government, project implementation had still not begun as of May 30, 2021.

📋 Staff Comments

AidData has assigned a OECD sector code of 210 because this project involves the construction of an academy that will focus on railway operator skills and training.
The system identification number for this project in the Government of Ethiopia’s Aid Management Platform (AMP) is 87143436111896. The AMP identifies a grant commitment value of ETB 323,767,813 (which is worth much less than RMB 373.14 million) and a grant commitment date of November 17, 2016. This issue warrants further investigation.

📚 Sources & References

Old bottle new wine? The evolution of China's aid in Africa 1956 – 2014
Corporation to build Train Training Academy worth 373mln yuan
Ethiopia: Corporation Eyeing Human Resource Dev't
Ethiopia’s 1.5b Br Pioneer Railway Academy Trains Along
Corp Secures Land for Ethiopian Railways Academy
Delayed Rail Academy Begins to Fall into Place
Ethiopia to build railway academy
Remarks by Ambassador Tan Jian at the Ceremony of Commercial Operation of the Addis Ababa Djibouti Railway
Building of an Academy to support Ethiopian railway operations
Ethiopia to build railway academy with close to $60 mln
Railway Academy Project
Agreement on Economic and T echnical Cooperation between the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and the People's Republic of China Loan applications and disbursements are still being received and processed as the projects continue to evolve. Ongoing monitoring and evaluation are in place to ensure project continuity.