Eight Sites Evaluated For Bishoftu Airport, Some With Half The Current Cost | The Reporter Ethiopia

AfDB seeks auditors to review lenders’ financial model for mega financing plan

Ethiopian planners evaluated eight alternative sites for the Bishoftu International Airport, including several that would have cost less than half the price of the Abusera project now being built.

Among the shortlisted locations, three carried projected development costs below USD 5.5 billion. The least expensive option was estimated at USD 5.27 billion, substantially below the current projected cost of the Bishoftu International Airport (BIA), which is expected to exceed USD 13 billion upon full completion.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and senior government officials formally launched construction of the airport in January 2026. Construction has since begun as authorities intensify efforts to secure financing for one of Africa’s largest aviation infrastructure projects.

Planned in two phases and scheduled for completion by 2029, the airport is expected to handle 60 million passengers annually during its first phase, at an estimated cost of USD 7.9 billion. A second expansion phase would raise annual capacity to 110 million passengers, pushing total projected costs to USD 13.9 billion, including terminals, runways, utilities, roads and rail connections.

The details are contained in a series of technical documents prepared by Dar Sidara and ETG Designers & Consultants SC, the lead consultants overseeing the airport city project. The documents, published through the African Development Bank, include a more than 900-page Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) report for the airport project.

The AfDB, acting as the project’s Initial Mandated Lead Arranger, recently floated a request for expressions of interest to recruit consultants to audit lenders’ due diligence and assess financing models tied to the airport. The selected firm will serve as the Lenders’ Financial Model Auditor (LFMA), conducting an independent review of the project’s financial model and tax structure.

“This LFMA assignment will be undertaken for their own benefit and, as applicable, for other lenders forming part of the Lenders’ Group,” the AfDB stated in its request.

This week, Finance Minister Ahmed Shide met with AfDB President Sidi Ould Tah (PhD) in London to discuss efforts to accelerate financial mobilization for the airport project, according to the Ministry. The talks also touched on the regional fallout from the Iran crisis and its implications for fuel supplies linked to Ethiopia’s large-scale infrastructure projects.

Ethiopian officials also held discussions this week with the Al-Khayyat family, a Syrian-Qatari business conglomerate, regarding potential participation in financing the airport project, according to Bloomberg.

The airport project is largely driven by mounting capacity pressures at Bole International Airport, currently East Africa’s busiest aviation hub. Although Bole’s annual passenger capacity has reached 25 million following recent expansion works, officials say the airport is approaching its operational limits, with limited room for future growth.

Located roughly 40 kilometers south of Addis Ababa, the greenfield Bishoftu project spans approximately 3,500 hectares across Bishoftu City, Dukem Sub-City and Abusera Woreda in the Oromia region. Ethiopian Airlines Group expects the new facility to relieve congestion at Bole, accommodate long-term passenger growth and reinforce Ethiopia’s ambitions to become Africa’s leading aviation hub.

According to the ESIA documents, consultants initially identified eight possible sites within a 60-to-80-kilometer radius of Addis Ababa, stretching westward toward Tefki Plain and south-southwest along the Dukem-Mojo corridor. The locations were evaluated using criteria including land availability, wind coverage, visibility, altitude, population displacement, environmental resilience, exposure to hazards, infrastructure compatibility and overall investment costs.

The first candidate site, Tefki Plain, benefited from proximity to Addis Ababa but faced constraints from dense settlement patterns and poor soil conditions.

A second location, South Yerer/Godina, was quickly ruled out because of insufficient land availability near Mount Yerer and Bishoftu, making future expansion impractical. Consultants concluded the site could not accommodate the required seven-by-five-kilometer airport footprint or future growth needs.

The third site, situated at higher altitude, was considered technically feasible but less favorable because of aircraft performance limitations. It also carried the highest estimated social impact, with 21,282 people — or 4,173 households — projected to be affected. Of those, nearly 13,000 residents lived directly within the airport footprint, including inhabitants of Asgori town, while more than 8,000 others fell within projected aircraft noise zones.

Despite the relocation burden, consultants noted the site had relatively low geological risks. The terrain was described as flat, with minimal tectonic activity and low seismic exposure, comparable to Addis Ababa and lower than Bishoftu.

The estimated project cost at the site stood at USD 5.34 billion.

A fourth candidate site near North Zikwala/Dire was discarded because of severe airspace constraints caused by surrounding topography, including Mount Zikwala and Mount Sokoru. Consultants concluded the mountainous terrain would significantly complicate safe and efficient air traffic operations, rendering the location operationally unsuitable.

A fifth candidate site in southeast Bishoftu was also discarded after consultants identified multiple operational constraints, including limited land availability, surrounding obstacles and proximity to newly built highway and railway infrastructure. The site was further weakened by insufficient wind coverage for smaller aircraft, a factor deemed critical for safe and efficient airport operations.

Site six — ultimately selected for the Bishoftu International Airport project — emerged as the preferred option because of its relative proximity to Addis Ababa, moderate altitude and comparatively low construction costs. Consultants estimated the site would affect approximately 13,000 people, or 2,678 households, including residents displaced by the airport footprint and those living within projected aircraft noise zones.

Of those affected, roughly 8,429 residents live within the proposed airport footprint, much of it encompassing Abu Sera town. Close to 5000 people are expected to fall within noise-impacted areas. According to the assessment, Site six carried the lowest overall relocation burden among the preferred options and was also considered the least disruptive in terms of aircraft noise exposure. Existing ambient noise levels in the area were described as minimal, limited largely to intermittent vehicular traffic.

The site also carried the lowest projected construction cost among shortlisted locations, at an estimated USD 5.27 billion.

However, the assessment identified several operational and geological challenges. Site six lies within Seismic Zone three, corresponding to a projected ground acceleration of 0.07g over a 100-year probability period, placing it in the moderate-to-high seismic risk category.

Consultants also warned that the airport would significantly affect operations at the Ethiopian Air Force base in Bishoftu, commonly known as Harar Meda, because the military runway falls within the new airport’s control zone. The report noted that accommodating both civilian and military operations would likely require reconfiguration of the air force base, including the possible construction of a new runway aligned parallel to the airport’s main axis.

Despite the complications, the consultants concluded that mitigation measures remained feasible and financially manageable. Proposed solutions include a newly reoriented military runway estimated to cost around USD 40 million, alongside coordinated airspace management procedures designed to minimize operational interference.

Site seven, another shortlisted option, benefited from lower altitude conditions favorable to aircraft performance but was considered less attractive because of its greater distance from Addis Ababa and larger social and operational impacts.

The site was projected to affect more than 15,000 people, or 3,208 households, including more than 8,200 residents living directly within the airport footprint and another 7,156 people exposed to aircraft noise impacts. Consultants concluded that Site seven would result in significantly higher displacement than Site six.

The location also posed more serious complications for military aviation operations. Although the Ethiopian Air Force base would not fall directly within the airport’s control zone, the proposed site would encroach heavily on restricted military airspace and place civilian flight paths close to military landing approaches, requiring substantial reductions to military operational space.

Site seven also carried the highest projected development cost among the shortlisted locations, estimated at USD 5.499 billion.

Geologically, it was categorized under Seismic Zone four, with a projected acceleration of 0.10g over a 100-year probability period — a seismic risk level comparable to Bishoftu itself. The report noted that volcanic and landslide risks were considered remote across the three finalist sites — Sites three, six and seven — because nearby volcanic formations are geologically old and inactive, with no geothermal activity recorded within the proposed airfield zones.

An eighth candidate site, broadly similar to Site seven, was ultimately deprioritized because of its comparatively larger environmental impact.

Project cost emerged as one of the decisive factors in the site selection process, with planners weighing not only construction expenses but also the long-term financial implications of relocation, infrastructure expansion and environmental mitigation measures.

According to the assessment documents, the cost drivers varied sharply across the proposed sites. Site one, near Tefki Plain, carried potentially high relocation expenses and would have required extensive upgrades to existing access roads. Weak soil conditions linked to nearby marshlands were also expected to inflate construction costs.

Site three posed a different set of financial challenges. Consultants projected higher earthwork expenses because of uneven terrain and longer access road requirements. The site also faced potentially substantial relocation costs. More critically, the prevalence of black cotton soil — known for its instability and swelling characteristics — was expected to significantly increase both construction and long-term maintenance costs for airport infrastructure.

By contrast, Site six benefited from proximity to newly built highway infrastructure, reducing initial access costs. The report acknowledged that the site would still require specialized earthworks because of small volcanic formations in the area, while mitigation measures tied to military operations — including construction of a new Ethiopian Air Force runway — were estimated at roughly USD 40 million.

Sites seven and eight were considered more expensive largely because of transportation infrastructure demands. Consultants estimated the two sites would require entirely new dedicated access roads stretching roughly 50 kilometers and 60 kilometers, respectively. For Site seven alone, projected road construction costs were estimated between USD 100 million and USD 110 million.

The documents indicate that planners adopted a broader financial assessment framework extending beyond headline construction figures. Rather than isolating direct airport development costs, the analysis incorporated the price of mitigating operational and social impacts. In one comparison, consultants explicitly weighed the estimated USD 40 million cost of constructing a replacement military runway for Site six against the substantially higher expressway access costs associated with Site seven. The approach, the report noted, was intended to provide a more comprehensive measure of economic viability.

As part of the airport’s master planning process, consultants also evaluated multiple runway system configurations for the Bishoftu project. The alternatives were assessed based on runway orientation, length requirements, operational efficiency, airspace compatibility and environmental and land-use considerations. The objective, according to the report, was to identify a runway layout capable of supporting safe and efficient long-term operations while accommodating future growth.

The sensitivity analysis underscores the scale of the project and the risks attached to it. The airport’s total projected investment is expected to reach USD 13.9 billion, while passenger traffic is forecast to rise from roughly 30 million travelers annually in 2030 to more than 105 million by 2060. Cargo volumes are similarly projected to surge to 3.73 million metric tons annually over the same period.

By 2060, consultants project that Bishoftu International Airport could rank among the busiest aviation hubs in the world. Under that level of traffic pressure, the assessment warns, unresolved infrastructure bottlenecks could trigger severe disruptions across transportation and logistics networks, with wider economic consequences for Ethiopia and the region.

The report estimates that compensation and rehabilitation measures alone — including housing construction, resettlement site development, livelihood restoration and transitional support payments — could approach ETB 40 billion.