Modernisation of the Lake Tana Transport Infrastructure (Development Phase)

Lake Tana is located in the Amhara State in Ethiopia. It is the source of the Blue Nile and the largest lake in Ethiopia. Located in the north-western Ethiopian highlands it forms the centre of the Tana sub-basin and is an important source for fishing and irrigation for the entire downstream farmland. Currently the potential of the area for the production of agricultural products is hampered due to insufficient transportation capacity. This bottleneck disables the farmers to produce more agricultural products which could be transported to other regions in Ethiopia or exported to other countries. There are limited alternatives other than water transport to move passengers and cargo due to lack of roads, the fact that expanding the road network would be costly and the inaccessibility of some sites around the lake.The project will solve the capacity constraint by providing reliable and frequent transport services on Lake Tana. It concerns the improvement of transport capacity on and around the lake. The project is defined as the design implementation operation and maintenance of an all-embracing water transport facility, vessels shore facilities and a well functioning operator. The transaction concerns the purchase of four vessels a dredging facility and dredging works rehabilitation of landing sites maintenance training and capacity building. The dredging boat will serve as a ferry boat in the high season (high water) and it will be used as a dredging boat in the low season (low water).