A Chinese construction firm, SINOMA Engineering, has started constructing a new industrial park in Hawassa town, the regional capital of the newly formed Sidama regional state.

Awassa Textile and Industrial Park S.C, a local company established by three Ethiopian investors, is going to build a privately-owned industry park in Hawassa town at a cost of two billion birr, The Reporter has learnt.

Cepheus Growth Capital Partners has invested in one of Hawassa's ceramic makers, Tabor Ceramics Products Share Company and is to hold a “significant minority stake” in the company.

The registration of voters for the Sidama referendum started on Thursday November 2, 2019. According to multiple sources from the area, the process is being conducted peacefully and that there were no threats except on a polling station around Hawassa in a place called Bilate on the first day of voter registration.

The recent deadly violence and conflicts in the Sidama Zone of the Southern Regional State has become a serious concern for foreign investors forcing them to abandon their operations at the Hawassa Industrial Park, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD) said.

Police in Hawassa town, capital of the Southern Regional State, have arrested over 207 individuals suspected to have involved in sporadic violence and criminal activities which has left the city unusually unsafe, The Reporter has learnt.

The Sidama Zone Administration has detained 226 suspects who were said to have been involved directly or indirect in the recent violence that rocked the city of Hawassa resulting in the death of 10 people, caused severe injuries to nine people and minor injuries to 80 people, The Reporter has learnt.

The political upheavals the country passed through for the past three years seems to have simmered down. The leadership of the Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) seems to be content with the calm which came following the measures taken that range from the decision to release politically significant prisoners to the resignation of Prime Minister Hailemariam Dessalegn.

The Ethiopian Investment Commission (EIC) has been awarded the ‘2017 United Nations Award’ for “outstanding performance in targeted promotion, facilitation and execution of sustainable investment projects”, announced the Commission, yesterday.