CGC Overseas Construction Co Ltd said on Saturday it has signed a US$97 million agreement with the Ethiopian Roads Authority for construction of two roads.

Sun Guoqiang, the Chinese company's chief representative in Ethiopia, said it won the international bid to build the Dodola Junction-Goba and Dera-Gololcha Mechara roads, in south Ethiopia's Oromia state.

The Dodola Junction-Goba road is part of the Nazareth-Assela-Dodola and Shashemene-Goba Road Upgrading Project.

The work consists of upgrading the existing 130-kilometer gravel road at a cost of US$43 million.

The Dera-Gololcha Mechara road will be upgraded from a 120-kilometer gravel track to a six-meter-wide gravel surfaced carriageway with a 0.5-meter gravel shoulder on either side, corresponding to feeder road standards.

The cost is about US$54 million.

Sun said each project is expected to be completed in 3 1/2 years.

The Ethiopian government has secured credit from the International Development Association to cover its roads program and part of it is allocated to the two projects.

CGC Overseas Construction Co Ltd is a subsidiary of the China Geo-engineering Corporation.

Since last year, it has won road contracts in Ethiopia worth US$276 million.

Since the downfall of the Derg regime in 1991, many Chinese firms have played a major role in construction of roads in the Horn of Africa country.