The Ethio-Djibouti Railway is 781km long; it had sustained damages during the Ethio-Somalia war and by floods. Consta was recruited to renovate a 114km segment of the rail that has been most affected at a cost of 50 million Euro (902.5 million Br), which has been provided by the EU.

Consta is anticipating the lifting of the ban on it and to resume construction of the Ethio-Djibouti Railway before the end of this month.

A decision has now been reached for Consta Joint Venture (JV), the Italian firm, to continue work on the railway after a meeting at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development (MoFED) involving Ethiopian and Djibouti officials, officials of the EU, the project financier as well as officials of the Ethio-Djibouti Railway Enterprise. Consta had been ordered to suspend the construction on the railway because of the poor standard of the work reported by the project consultant.

Consta is expected to make a presentation on April 26, 2010, about the work that is to be done, the extra time and the budget needed for the project. It will go to work after the extra time and budget requests have been approved for it. A final decision is expected then.

The work was initiated in 2007 and had to be delivered in June 2008. However, the company was able to maintain only a five kilometre segment near Metehara. Even this small segment did not meet the quality specifications and Consta was suspended.

The company has been instructed to improve the quality of the materials it uses in the maintenance, recruit professional workers, and resume purchase.

The railway has been functional only between Dire Dawa and Djibouti. That service has now been suspended because of flood damage on the tracks at the Melo area. It is currently under maintenance.

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