Deal signed to upgrade roads, grid in Ethiopia

Assefa Michael, a 41-year-old businessman, said the infrastructure, including roads built by Chinese companies, would greatly change life and the industrial landscape in his country.

"Roads are the roots for the creation of real wealth for a nation," he told China Daily.

He said that several pregnant women died in rural Ethiopia because of poor road access and communication with the nearest clinics, and the projects would ensure healthier lives.

Breakthrough in riding the rails in Ethiopia

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Ethiopian farmers also limit their production because they cannot access the huge markets of nearby towns, so these projects also offer business opportunities, he added.

Frew Girma, a 34-year-old flower seller in Addis Ababa, is hoping his business will pick up when the light railway is built.

"Now it takes me more than three hours to reach the market in town, which makes my fresh flowers less attractive," he said. "I hope the railway can carry my flowers to the market quickly, then I can sell them at a good price."

Guo Xiangang, vice-president of the China Institute of International Studies, said the deals signed on Sunday will greatly enhance the living conditions of local communities.

He said the way China helps its "African brother" is gradually changing, as China increasingly focuses on "agriculture, infrastructure and environmental protection" which will help promote local people's livelihoods.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn said the fact that Ethiopia is the first leg of the Chinese premier's visit to Africa shows the strong bilateral relations between the countries.

Dambisa Moyo, a Zambian economist, wrote in a recent article in The Huffington Post that the flow of Chinese trade is not only a welcome investment in the global growth and poverty reduction agenda, but can also "play an enormous role in staving off civil unrest and instability by creating local job opportunities".

Moyo, a former Goldman Sachs banker and employee of the World Bank, said China's worldwide construction of infrastructure "has delivered the full complement of roads, ports, railways, airports and power stations". It shows an eagerness to invest in fields that even the private sector tends to avoid due to relatively low returns and project maturities that can run to more than 50 years.