Ethiopia begins $12.5 billion construction of 'Africa's biggest airport'

Ethiopia on Saturday started building what the prime minister says will be Africa's biggest airport when completed in the town of Bishoftu, southeast of the capital Addis Ababa.

The massive travel hub is expected to cost around $12.7 billion (Ksh.1.6 trillion) and eventually be able to handle some 110 million passengers a year at full capacity. Construction is expected to take five years.

Partly financed by national carrier Ethiopian Airlines, the Bishoftu hub is expected to replace the capital's Bole Airport, which can handle up to 25 million passengers annually.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Saturday announced construction of "the largest aviation infrastructure project in Africa's history" had begun.

"This multi-airport strategy aims to future-proof Ethiopia's role as Africa's leading air transport gateway," he said in a post on X.

He added the project will strengthen Ethiopian Airlines' global competitiveness, enhance African connectivity, expand trade and tourism corridors and position Ethiopia as a major intercontinental hub.

The project includes a multi-lane motorway to link the new facility to the capital and a 38-kilometre high-speed railway which Abiy said would reach speeds of up to 124 mph (200 kph).

The African Development Bank has earmarked $500 million towards the project and Ethiopian authorities are in talks to raise further tranches with the Asian Development Bank, the European Investment Bank and the US Development Finance Corporation.

Ethiopia hopes to attract foreign tourism despite the ongoing armed conflict in its two most populous regions -- Amhara and Oromia -- with Bishoftu located in the latter.

The future airport, which will sit on a 35 square kilometre site, has already seen the displacement of 2,500 farmers who were re-housed last year at a cost of $350 million, Ethiopian Airlines CEO Mesfin Tasew Bekele said in November.

Ethiopia, Africa's second-most populous country with some 130 million inhabitants, has launched major infrastructure projects in recent years.

It officially inaugurated the continent's largest dam last year and extensive urban renewal projects are underway in Addis Ababa and other major cities.