afrol News, 2 February - Ethiopian government has rejected the World Bank report giving it a high spot among its peers as the least developed Horn of African state in infrastructure.

A new World bank assessment conducted by Africa Infrastructure Country Diagnostic (AICD) said Ethiopia needs to invest at least US$ 5 billion every year for a decade to bring it to an acceptable level as compared to its African neighbours.

The World bank study which assessed the development projects carried out in the country up to year 2006, and presented in Ethiopia last Friday was out rightly rejected by government officials saying the findings were not the true reflection of Ethiopia, hence it should not be considered.

The World Bank report has however said Ethiopia has more growth to gain from improving infrastructure, saying the country's trunk road was of good quality despite a short length and no over paving.

Leading Economist with the World Bank Vivien Foster said maintenance funding still fall below technical norms, and this will worsen as current network age. "But we see a half investment programme represents huge and effort in GDP terms with strong focus on trunk network," she said.

She also said in international service Ethiopia was one of Africa's top three carriers with safety rankings up to international benchmark, but called for further development to support tourism.

The AICD has undertaken unprecedented data collection and analysis on the status of the main network infrastructure, including energy, information and communication technologies, irrigation, transport, and water and sanitation. The analysis encompasses public expenditure trends, future investment needs and sector performance review.

By staff writer

© afrol News

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