Addis Ababa: The federal government has undertaken several fruitful activities in improving transportation, telecom, bank services, and agriculture, among others, after the signing of the Pretoria agreement, PM Abiy said today.
Responding to questions raised by members of the House of People’s Representatives (HPR) today, he revealed that over half billion Birr expenditure was made for the resumption of the air transport to Shire, Mekele and soon to Axum, which is currently under maintenance.
The air transport has at least helped people with chronic diseases to fly to Addis and get medical treatment, he added.
Ethio telecom has maintained over 1000 kms of optical fiber and 475 mobile sites while repairing over 20,000 landline telephones and started 4G service with hundreds of thousands of Birr in four cities of the region.
As a result, the people of Tigray are now able to get the services of telecom and electricity through the joint collaboration of the federal government and the interim regional administ
ration.
Moreover, the National Bank Ethiopian has provided 10 billion Birr liquidity and some 600 bank branches are open, the premier said.
Meanwhile, he pointed out that almost all universities and high schools in Tigray regional state have started teaching and learning; and similarly health care institutions are now providing minimum health services at least.
Furthermore, he noted that some 217 factories have started operation after the Pretoria agreement, even if they still seek support.
The federal government through a special procurement has imported 500 tractors and over 300 pumps to improve agriculture in Tigray, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed told MPs.
According to him, about 630,000 hectares of land was cultivated in the region last Ethiopian year with the agricultural inputs support such as tractors, special seed, fertilizer and pumps provided by Ministry of Agriculture and regional states.
The PM finally stated that the achieved result is not enough compared to what the government wants to be done
because of limited resources.
He attributed the encouraging achievement to the joint effort of the federal government and the interim regional administration.
Source: Ethiopian News Agency