EFFECTIVENESS OF TOLL ROADS IN ETHIOPIA: A CASE STUDY OF ADDIS ABABA-ADAMA TOLL ROAD

Abstract

Toll road operation is a business that involves constructing regionally indispensable roads more rapidly than would otherwise be possible, using loans to prevent road construction from being retarded due to financial difficulties in the public works budget. Ethiopia’s transport system is one of the lowest in the world and is inadequate to support an efficient production and distribution system. Much of the problem of road construction and maintenance is rooted to the institutional aspects of agencies responsible for roads and the absence of a system ensuring adequate financing for road conservation. Traditionally, the Government has been the great provider of roads, constructing the road network and putting it at the disposition of all citizens and the use of roads has been largely free of charge. Unlike most other types of infrastructure, roads are neither built nor maintained by those who use them to market output or services. Therefore, this study has examined the effectiveness of toll roads in Ethiopia by showing the case of Addis Ababa-Adama express way in order to demonstrate the building of a toll road how it does bring sustainable flow to preserve the road in good condition. In order to address the stated objectives in this paper, mixed research approach was used and data were collected with the help of interviews and document analysis techniques are used. Based on the case study made on Addis Ababa-Adama toll road, results show that toll road system in Ethiopia is effectively implemented so that the vehicles operating costs are reduced which contributes to the national economy by saving extra expenses of imported items like fuel, tire and spare parts, and saving the idle time wasted by travel delay due to traffic congestion and deteriorated road. However, from the case study, it is observed that construction of toll road requires huge fund-raising, so that the public-private partnership will ensure reliable initial fund and efficient toll road management.