ADDIS ABABA: Young local professionals from Ethiopia and Djibouti are set to replace Chinese experts who are currently running the control center of Ethiopian-Djibouti Railway that was built with a cost of four billion dollars.
Amid ongoing efforts that envisaged to replace Chinese experts with young local professionals drawn from the two countries, scholars from the Beijing Jiaotong University have provided 45 days training for 185 railway junior professionals.
The training, which was provided to 185 trainees working in signal and communication, civil works and operational control center at Ethiopian Railway Corporation and successfully concluded this week, mainly focused on activities in railway maintenance, telecommunication and signaling as well as railway operations.
Liu Yanqing, Dean of the International Education College of Beijing Jiaotong University, said during the certificate awarding ceremony at
the Hilton hotel in Addis Ababa that the training course was “well-prepared in advance, designed to meet the actual demand for the operation and management of this railway and arranged in a reasonable way. As a consequence, the entire training course has achieved the anticipated purpose and has significant effects.”
The 725-km Africa’s first electrified transnational Ethiopia-Djibouti railway, which was jointly built by the China Railway Group Limited (CREC) and the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC), is presently managed by experts drawn from the two Chinese companies for a period of six years.
Radia Soud Mohammed, Chief HR Officer at the Ethiopia-Djibouti Standard Gauge Railway Share Company (EDR), also hailed the training, saying “it contributes to the capacity building in the sector, whereby Ethiopian trainees are able to become full-fledged professionals.”
The Ethiopia-Djibouti Standard Gauge Railway Share Company (EDR) had last month disclosed that another batch of 34 Ethiopian trainees will be given six months of training in Zhengzhou Railway Vocational and Technical College.
The young local junior professionals, upon successfully completed their trainings, are expected to replace the current Chinese captain of Ethio-Djibouti Railway.
According to officials at EDR, the second batch of 30 driver trainees, comprised of 16 Ethiopians and 14 Djiboutians, are also expected to receive similar training as of next year.
Liu Yu, Economic and Commercial Minister-Counselor at the Chinese Embassy in Ethiopia, also said during the event that the training “would help Ethiopians to build their capacity and it enables them enhance their skills to fully operate the new railway technologies.” (Informer)
The Ethiopian Herald December 31/2019
