Ethiopia’s new airport will receive $500 million from the AfDB

A new airport in Ethiopia would be financed with $500 million from the African Development Bank (AfDB), according to a Monday, August 11 Reuters story.

When the airport is finished in 2029, it should be the biggest in Africa.

The four-runway airport near the town of Bishoftu, some 45 kilometers southeast of the capital Addis Ababa, has been designed in collaboration with state-owned Ethiopian Airlines.

The airline has stated that 20% of the $10 billion project’s finance will come from it, with the remaining funds coming from creditors.

According to a statement from the development bank, “the bank has itself earmarked up to $500 million, subject to board approval, to anchor the funding of this transformational regional integration project.”

The project will be able to handle 100 million passengers annually, and last week it announced that it was spearheading attempts to raise $7.8 billion for it.