New R140bn Agreement To Build Africa's Biggest Airport

Ethiopian Airlines Group and African Development Bank will partner to build a new airport that's estimated to cost 7.8 billion R140 billion and is set to be Africa's largest.

The parties signed a letter of intent for the partnership to construct the facility in the East African nation on Friday, the finance ministry said in a statement Saturday, without disclosing the amount that the AfDB will provide for the project.

The new airport, known as Bishoftu, will be near the capital, Addis Ababa. Authorities have secured the location and are working on planning new homes at another site for farmers who were on the land, state-owned Ethiopian Airlines Group Chief Executive Officer Mesfin Tasew said in November.

Bishoftu will enable Ethiopia to increase annual passenger capacity from 17 million now to more than 60 million by 2040.

The AfDB has invested 1.2 billion in Ethiopia, Finance Minister Ahmed Shide said in the statement.