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NOT SUFFICIENT WATER DOWN THE DAM
After
consuming close to two billion Birr more than stated in the
signed agreement, the Tekeze Hydroelectric Dam was
completed, at a cost of 3.92 billion Br and with a capacity
to generate 300Mw of power to the national grid. Built at
the Tekeze River, 903Km north of Addis Abeba, the dam was
finally inaugurated on November 14, 2009, by Prime Minister
Meles Zenawi. His curiosity seems to be shared by Alemayehu
Tegenu, minister of Mines and Energy (right), and Mehiret
Debebe, CEO of the Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPCo)
and Tsegaye Berhe, president of the Tigray Regional State
(left). Tekeze Dam is the largest double curvature arch dam
in Africa, with a height of188 metres. However, the dam does
not contain even half of the 9.3 billion cubic metres of
water it needs to operate its four turbines due to the lack
of water during the rainy season of 2006/07. Once the entire
configuration of the dam’s facilities become fully
operational, perhaps by three to five years [according to
some experts’ estimates], Tekeze will enhance the current
generating capacity of EEPCo to over 1,000Mw. This will be
only a fraction of the generating capacity by the state
utility company should the federal government succeed in
building a series of dams, with a combined capacity of
15,000Mw, across the country over the next 10 years,
Alemayehu disclosed.SEE THE FULL STORY |
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Djibouti Generates Grain on 3,000ht Gesture |
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The Government of Djibuti is harvesting 60,000ql of
wheat from its farm in Western Arsi
around Serofa, in the Ormomia Regional State. The
tiny nation, which is Ethiopia’s gateway to the sea,
had been granted 3,000ht of prime land in June 2009,
where it started growing wheat immediately. |
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Ethiopian Cancels Hotel Construction Consulting Bid |
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Ethiopian Airlines has cancelled the bit what would
have been a multimillion Birr consulting contract
for the four-star hotel it plans to construct on a
40,000sqm plot near the Addis Ababa Bole
International Airport, sources disclosed. |
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Indian
Investors Enquire to Irrigate with Baro River |
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Karaturi
Global, an Indian company with agricultural interest
in the Gambella Regional State, requested, in early
November, that the Ministry of Water Resources
authorized it to use the Baro River to irrigate
crops for its intended agricultural development
project. |
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Auto
Acquisition Transferred from Transport Authority to Finance
Ministry |
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The job of procuring vehicles for government bodies
whose budget comes from the federal government has
been transferred from the Transport Authority to the
Ministry of Finance and Economic Development (MoFED). |
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Authority Achieves 96.6pc of Revenue Target for 1Q |
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The Ethiopian Revenue and Customs Authority (ERCA)
has achieved 96.6pc of its target for the first four
months of the 2009/10 fiscal year by collecting 12.3
billion Br from tax and non-tax revenues, Melaku
Fenta, the authority’s director general, disclosed
to Fortune. |
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UK, India
Firms Bag Lucrative Text Book Deals |
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Pearson Education Ltd of the UK and Star Educational
Books of India have won the international tender of
the Ministry of Education (MoE) for the adaptation,
printing and distribution of four textbooks,
including teachers’ guides, for high school
education. |
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Surprise
Assets Registration Bill Passes Ministers’ Council |
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Members of the Council of Ministers voted on Friday,
November 20, 2009, in favour of a bill that will
make asset registrations and disclosure of financial
interests mandatory to those holding public offices.
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Al-Amoudi’s Efforts to Initiate Saudi Agro Investments |
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Mohammed Ali Al-Amoudi was pivotal in the
preparation and organisation of both the Saudi-East
African Forum, which took place at the United
Nations Conference Centre (UNCC), and the
corresponding exhibition at the Millennium Hall,
spending 30 million Br renovating the hall. |
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Adama Badgers Bajajs Without Side Numbers |
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The Adama Transport Authority decided that the Bajaj
taxis were to bear these numbers following its
business process reengineeing(BPR). This was because
many taxis were entering the city's bigger market at
night from smaller markets in Debre Zeit, Assela,
and Chiro near Asebe Teferi loaded on ISUZU trucks.
According to the decision, the Bajaj owners would
have to pay 10 Br to the Authority to get their
additional numbers painted on their sides. |
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Habesha to Cement Request for
Bids ok Tuesday |
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Habesha Cement Share Company is preparing a bid
document, due November 24, 2009, for the
engineering, procurement and construction of
machinery required for its factory following an
expression of interest from nine companies. |
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Holeta
to Announce 79m Br Stadium Bid |
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The construction of the stadium, expected to cost 79
million Br, will include a 165 by 66 metre soccer
pitch and running track. On the outside it will have
a parking area, green zone, and sidewalk. The
stadium will have 15,000 seats, said Bisrat Admasu,
the architect who designed the stadium.
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National
Cement to Construct Second Factory |
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The National Cement Factory is to begin the
construction of its second plant in Dire Dawa, which
has been enabled by a whopping 540 million Br loan
from the Development Bank of Ethiopia (DBE) |
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MOHA to
Refresh its Product Line |
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MOHA Soft Drinks
Industry S.C. is planning to market 20pc of its
products in plastic bottles of different sizes,
according to an official in the company. |
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New
Strategies Cultivated for Urban Agriculture |
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The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MoARD)
is establishing a steering committee later this
month to develop a strategy and policies for urban
agriculture. |
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Sugar
Exports to EU Suspended |
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Ethiopia is, for the first time in 10 years,
suspending the export of sugar to the European Union
to lessen the pressure on the domestic market, Belay
Dechassa, manager of the Ethiopian Sugar Development
Agency told Fortune. |
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Bill to
Require Documentation of Births, Marriages, More |
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The Ministry of Capacity Building is working on a
bill to introduce a civil registration and vital
events statistics system, which was disclosed during
a press conference at the Central Statistics Agency
(CSA) last Tuesday, November 17, 2009, on African
Statistics Day. |
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Zewditu
Hospital: New AIDS Centre |
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Zewditu Memorial Hospital, located off Yohannes
Street near Filwoha Hotel, is to build a new
ground-plus-two-floor antiretroviral therapy (ART)
centre within the coming 18 months. |
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historic!
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It was
indeed an historic moment seeing Meles Zenawi, chairman of
the EPRDF, exchanging smiles and shaking hands with
opposition political leaders. Following an agreement on
electoral code of conduct negotiated by leaders of four
parties for two months, opposition leaders have asked the
code to be signed by chairpersons of the parties, according
to a top negotiator of one of the parties. The ruling party
has agreed. This led to a rather extraordinary turn of
events whereby Meles made an appearance at the Sheraton
Addis on Friday afternoon, October 2009 (before he departed
to Nigeria) and inked the deal with Hailu Shawel (AEUP),
Lidetu Ayalew (EDP), and Ayele Chamiso (CUD), in the
picture above. It is unprecedented over the past 18 years
for Meles to be seen in public, shaking hands with any
opposition leader such as Hailu (Eng.), an opposition leader
jailed and sentenced to life imprisonment before pardoned by
this administration. Smiles and hand shaking were not
reserved for the chiefs. Below is Sekoture Getachew, foreign
relations head of the EPRDF, following the suit of his
leader in extending gratitude to Getachew Mengiste (Maj.) of
AEUP. Far right (below) is Lidetu Ayalew of EDP giving ear
to Hailu, a political rival with whom he had a bitter
fallout in the aftermath of the 2005 national election.
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PLEASE SEE
THE STORY |
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