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TANA BELES IGNITION
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The Tana Beles
Multipurpose Hydroelectric Project, which has been
under construction since June 8, 2006, by the
Italian company Salini Construttori, at a cost of
7.1 billion Br, was inaugurated on May 14, 2010. The
project was financed by the Ethiopian Electric Power
Corporation (EEPCo) and loans from development
partners.
Located on the shores
of Lake Tana, it is the largest hydropower plant in
Ethiopia so far, with a generating capacity of
460MW. The water gushes out of the 26km tunnel and
falls 275 metres down onto four turbines, each with
the capacity to generate 115MW. The water then flows
out of the plant and is further used for irrigation
purposes.
One of the four
turbines has already begun generating power at full
capacity, and the other turbines are expected to go
fully operational in the coming two months,
according to Meheret Debebe, chief executive officer
of the EEPCo.
It is the third
hydropower plant inaugurated during the 2009/2010
budget year following the launch of the Tekeze
Hydropower Project (300MW) in November 2009, in
Tigray Regional State, and Gilgel Gibe II (420MW),
launched in January 2010, in Southern Nations,
Nationalities, and Peoples (SNNP) Regional State.
Kifle Horo, project
manager of the integrated team of the EEPCo and
Salini, welcomed Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, who
inaugurated the hydroelectric project. Other
government officials, including Addisu Legesse,
Deputy Prime Minister; Bereket Simon, director for
the Office of Government Communication Affairs;
Arkebe Okubay, state minister for the Ministry of
Works and Urban Development (MoWUD); Alemayehu
Tegenu, minister of Mines and Energy (MoME); Ayalew
Gobeze, president of the Amhara Regional State; and
Meheret Debebe were all present at the inauguration
ceremony.
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Campaign 2010: POSTERMANIA!
Election campaigning is
expected to come to an end today after the competing parties
have battled it out on TV, radio, town hall meetings, and
rallies. On May 23, 2010, exactly a week from today, members
of the electorate will cast their decisive votes. That day
will determine who is to go to Parliament and the regional
councils, except for Addis Abeba, whose council election
will not take place at this time. Of the different types of
campaigning modes deployed, the extensive use of posters in
this election is like no other previous election, and some
of the voters are getting a feel for it, report BRUH
YIHUNBELAY and EDEN SAHLE, FORTUNE STAFF WRITERS.
PLEASE SEE THE FULL STORY |
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Public Financing |
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Amount per candidate |
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Money Sharing: On the
left, the pie chart, shows the amount of money
distributed to the five major political parties by
NEBE. The political parties are chosen based on the
number of candidates they have for the regional and
federal parliament which have deployed over 200
candidates.
Out of the total money
distributed, which was a little over 7.1 million Br,
the Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic
Front (EPRDF) and the other four major political
parties received a total of over 4.67 million Br
(65pc of the total amount). The lion’s share, which
is about 48pc or about 3.39 million Br of the total
amount, was allocated to the EPRDF, while the other
four parties received 1.28 million Br, which is 17pc
of the total amount. Over two million Birr of the
total money was handed to the remaining 58 political
parties. The bar graph on the right (above) shows
the amount of money received by each candidate of
the political parties.PLEASE SEE THE FULL STORY |
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Privatisation of Four State Enterprises on
Track |
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Four state enterprises out of six are going private;
for which offers were approved by the board of the
Privatisation and Public Enterprises Supervising
Agency (PPESA) on March 19, 2010. |
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Ministry of Foreign Affairs Bars Embassies
from Election Observation |
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The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) officially
prohibited foreign embassies in Ethiopia and
international organisations from observing the 2010
National Elections, the fourth since the overthrow
of the Derg. |
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Court Rejects All Ayat Objections |
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The judge presiding over the Ayat case rejected all
the objections of the defence lawyers, on May 11,
2010, on the charges instituted by the prosecutors
of the Ethiopian Revenues and Customs Authority (ERCA);
the defendants pleaded not guilty during the same
hearing. |
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Court Finds Ayele Debela Guilty of Illegal
Banking |
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The Federal High Court 11th Criminal Bench found
Ayele Debela, manager and shareholder of ADH
International, guilty on 10 counts involving illegal
banking, tax evasion, and money laundering, on May
11, 2010. |
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Court: AMCE Deal at Current, not 2006,
Exchange Rate |
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The bill for the establishment of the Trade Practice
and Consumer Protection Agency shed the
controversial articles that were to give the agency
judicial power. |
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Proposed Consumer Protection
Agency Loses Judicial Power |
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The Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) secured
200 million Br from foreign funds and grants for the
implementation of its policies, Desalegn Mesfin,
deputy director of the EPA, told the Natural
Resources and Environmental Protection Affairs
Standing Committee of Parliament when he presented
the authority’s report on May 7, 2010. |
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Third-party Insurance Soon to
be Required |
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The Office of the Fund, established by the Vehicle
Insurance against Third-party Risks Proclamation No.
559/2008 and created in 2009 to manage the insurance
fund for the treatment of people injured in traffic
accidents, is expected to go operational in July
2010. |
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Blue Nile Construction
to Pay Premium for Total’s Fuel |
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Blue Nile Construction SC was ordered by the court
to pay a little over half a million Birr to Total
Ethiopia SC after the former failed to pay for fuel
and oil given to it. |
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Spark of Understanding |
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The Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPCo)
signed a 6.4 billion Br (495 million dollar) deal
for the Electromechanical (EM) and Hydraulic Steel
Structure (HSS) works for the Gilgel Gibe III
project with Dongfang Electric International
Corporation (DEC); 85pc of the cost will be provided
by the Industrial & Commercial Bank of China (ICBC)
as a loan. |
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Customs Authority’s
Collections Top Expectations |
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The Ethiopian Revenues and Customs Authority (ERCA)
collected 25.59 billion Br, topping its expectations
by about 0.19pc and that of the government by
26.41pc for the first three quarters of the fiscal
year. |
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