A new bridge across the River Gelba, which was inaugurated on 7 October, should boost Ethiopia's export-import industry by easing access to the port of Djibouti, AFP reported on Wednesday. Djibouti became the principal channel for Ethiopia's imports and exports when the war with Eritrea broke out in 1998. The report quoted the head of Ethiopia's Roads Authority, Tesfamikael Nahusenay, as saying the bridge made it possible to bypass the Dobi desert and that it was built with a US $495,000 loan from the African Development Bank. It is 110 metres long, nine metres wide, 25 metres high and designed to take heavy goods vehicles. Nahusenay said the bridge was part of the larger Semaroa-Elidar road in northeastern Ethiopia, on which the country had already spent US $19 million.
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