China Electric Power Equipment and Technology Co. has completed a project providing electricity to the Addis Ababa Light Rail Transit (AA-LRT) in the capital of Ethiopia.
The commissioning ceremony of the Gas Insulated Substation (GIS) project took place on Sunday with the presence of senior government officials of Ethiopia as well as heads and staff of the Chinese company.
Ethiopian Deputy Prime Minister Debretsion Gebremichael, who is also Minister of Communication and Information Technology, hailed the completion of the project as a landmark to the AA-LRT.
Debretsion said the power supply is dedicated only to the railway project to ensure reliable power supply to the light rail of the city.
A test ride of the Addis Ababa light railway, which was launched on Feb. 1 on a nine-kilometer railway between Kality and Meskel Square in the south section of the corridor, has been going on in the city.
Azeb Asnake, CEO of the Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation, commended all parties involved towards the completion of the GIS project.
AA-LRT is a project implemented within Ethiopia's first five- year growth and transformation plan (GTP), which ends this year.
Speaking on the occasion, Cheng Wei, Deputy General Manager of China Electric Power Equipment and Technology Co., said the project team has worked day and night to complete the civil works, installation and commissioning.
"The time schedule was only 6 months, from the land acquisition until all sites put into operation," he said. "Therefore, to complete timely was the biggest challenge of this project."
"Today, we have all the sites put into operation. We are glad that we can make our contribution to the Ethiopian economic development through this way," he said.
"And in the future, we will infuse other existing projects here with our sincere and responsible attitude. We will use our serious performance to make new contribution to Ethiopian electric power construction," he added.
