- The USD 250 million plant gets 122 hectares of land
Owned by both the governments of China and Ethiopia, a specialized industrial park, which will focus on manufacturing machineries, is to be planted in the town of Adama, 85km to the southeast of Addis Ababa.
At the Ethiopia-Hunan Investment Cooperation Forum, which was held this week, Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) and agreements have been signed by both sides. One of the agreements signed during the forum relates with the establishment operations and management of the park on a joint venture basis. Hence, the Industrial Parks Development Corporation (IPDC) and Changsha Economic and Technical Development Group Co., Ltd have inked the joint operations and management accord and have agreed to assign CGCOC, the Chinese contractor, to deliver the project within one year.
Sisay Gemechu, chief executive officer of IPDC, told reporters that the funds required to install the industrial park have already been approved by the Export and Import Bank China (EXIM Bank). Accordingly, the disbursement of the USD 250 million loan is expected to be finalized soon, Sisay said.
He Baoxiang, vice governor of the People’s Government of Hunan Province, said that further agreements are destined to be signed in May. The vice governor said that Ethiopian high-level officials will be visiting the province. Hence, the 250 million dollars loan is also expected to be taking effect after those unspecified agreements have been signed. According to Baoxiang, early in the beginning of the second half of this year, the construction of the industry park is expected to start.
Leading some 50 delegates from the Hunan Province, Baoxiang together with Arkebe Okubay (PhD), board chairperson of the Industrial Park Development Corporation, have observed the signings of MoUs and agreements. In addition to the management agreement, the Ethiopian Investment Commission (EIC) has inked MoUs with Chinese enterprises that have expressed intentions of investing the upcoming industrial park. Hence, Foton, TBEA, Sany, and Hunan Chnaggao International are the major companies that have shown interests.
Fitsum Arega, commissioner of EIC has emphasized that so far, some major anchor companies from China have shown interest to set foot in the park.
Zhou Zhilong, regional president of the International Engineering Company under TBEA’s southern power transmission and distribution industry group, told The Reporter that his company plans to plant a transformers manufacturing plant. Zhilong said that though the TBEA has the capacity to manufacture upscale energy equipment such as wind turbines and thermal power, the company will focus on manufacturing transformers based on the needs in the country. TBEA is well associated with the likes of Gilgel Gibe III project. Similarly, Foton Motor has expressed intentions of investing some half a billion dollars in the Ethio-Hunan Industrial Park.
According to IPDC, the machineries and equipment manufacturing industrial park has acquired 122 hectares of land in Adama and will home foreign and local investors alongside the Chinese firms, Sisay said.
