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Agrostone production, initially introduced by the
Housing Development Agency of the Addis Ababa City
Administration under the then Mayor, Arkebe Oqubay,
has expanded to the Southern Nations Nationalities
and Peoples Region (SNNPR).
SNNPR’s Housing Development Project Bureau has
already started construction of its own agrostone
factory on a 7000sqm plot in Awasa town, the capital
of SNNPR, adopting the design of the already
operational Agrostone factory located in
Akaki-Kality Sub-City.
“The plan is to finalize the construction (of the
factory) in the current year and to use agrostone
for houses to be constructed in the coming year,”
Teklu Fikru, general manager of SNNPR Housing
Development Project office told Fortune.
SNNPR takes 39, 000 of the 400,000 condos the
Ministry of Works and Urban Development (MoWUD) aims
to construct in 70 towns across Ethiopia in the five
years period which started in 2006/2007, with a
total budget of 24 billion Br. Accordingly, the
construction of condos is underway in six towns of
SNNPR, including Awasa.
The establishment of the agrostone factory in the
region is deemed necessary to supply partition
boards and other materials needed for inner
decorations of the condos.
The Awasa Agrostone Factory would get the patented
agrostone technology from the Chinese Xinghe
Building Materials Co. Ltd., the same company that
supplied technology and machinery to the Addis Ababa
Housing Development Agency’s Agrostone Factory.
The Chinese company will deliver this equipment,
acquired by Addis Ababa Housing Development Agency
at a cost of 16 million Br, to SNNPR’s Housing
Development Project Bureau for 9.7 million Br.
Currently, the Addis Ababa Agrostone Factory
produces double of tits initial capacity of 750
panels a day following the expansion works it
undertook last year, while the one in Awasa will be
able to make 500 panels a day when it goes
operational next year.
The Addis Ababa Agrostone Factory had been importing
magnesium oxide, a raw material used in making
agrostone, from China but the Housing Development
Agency has erected a magnesium oxide factory in
Kibre-Mengist area of Oromia Region in order to
produce the raw material locally.
This factory currently produces 20,000 tonnes of
magnesium oxide annually and higher officials at
MoWUD have decided it should be expanded so as to
double its production capacity. Accordingly, the
agency has recently signed an agreement with
Fishiwal Building Materials Co. Ltd. for supplies.
This Chinese company supplied the initial
technology.
The Awasa Agrostone Factory will also get raw
materials from this company.
Originating from China, agrostone technology uses
wastes like by-products of sugar cane, wheat as well
as pumice or solidified lava, magnesium sulphate and
red soil to replace cement and concrete in the
construction of houses. The idea of importing the
technology to Ethiopia was tabled when the shortage
and high cost of construction materials,
particularly that of cement, brought the
construction of condos to a standstill.
General Manager of Addis Ababa City Care Taker
Administration Housing Development Agency, Tsedale
Mamo, told Fortune that the intention is to
make agrostone a major input to the housing
development works as it appears to be cost effective
as opposed to cement.
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