Construction of a pedestrian overpass bridge is being built by Sintech Ethiopia Plc, the company employed by the Addis Abeba City Roads Authority. The picture, taken on May 12, 2010, shows one of the bridges located at Arat Kilo on the road that goes to Sidist Kilo. The project was started nine months ago, according to Mekonnen Melese (Eng), the project manager. There will be another bridge at Arat Kilo, over the road that leads to Piassa and two more at St. Giorgis Church Square, one on the road that leads to Belay Zeleke (Addisu Gebeya) and another on the road that leads to Sidist Kilo (Afincho Ber), he said. ACME Designers and Consultants is handling the architectural and structural design, and Esset Construction Plc is completing the civil engineering. The four pedestrian overpass bridges are expected to be completed at a cost of about six million Br, according to Mekonnen.

A remembrance statue at the entrance of the DH-Geda Industrial Business Group Plc Building in memory of the owner and founder, Dugma Hunde, was inaugurated on Sunday, May 9, 2010, on the 62nd birthday of the deceased businessman. It was constructed out of solid metal by the winner of a tender, Eyob Kitaba, assisted by Ephrem Bayissa. It took nine and a half months to finish at a cost of over 250,000 Br. Having the form of a strong, naked, big footed and large handed, physically fit man, looking slightly to the sky while trying to rotate a gear partially buried in the ground, the statue is meant to represent Dugma Hunde’s life. It is an attempt to start a new tradition of remembering deceased heroes by celebrating their birthdays. The monotone of the gear and statue are meant to show how close Dugma was to his work, said Sileshi Kassaye, chief operations officer of the company. It demonstrates the impressive stature that hard workers gain and how strong Dugma was during his 40 years of work, he said. The buried gear symbolises that there is a lot of work yet to be done and the struggle with the gear is meant to symbolise the struggle Dugma persevered through to the end. The eyes of the statue are opened slightly and look towards the sky showing the respect and gratitude he had for God. The statue’s nakedness represents Dugma’s practice of not hiding anything and speaking in an upfront manner.

The season of fresh maize has arrived as the rainy season is approaching. The busy streets of Addis Abeba seem to point a finger to it as Worke Tolosa, a resident of Addis Abeba, gets in on the rush at the right time. She usually sells roasted maize as well as the normal maize for two Birr, in front of Imperial Hotel around the Bob Marley Square where the picture was taken on May 12, 2010. 

The Federal High Court sentenced nine individuals with four to seven years of imprisonment and fines ranging from 1,000 Br to 10,000 Br on May 10, 2010.

Out of the nine defendants, Behailu Lemma, Dehab G. Hiwot, and Tekledingel G. Michael had been found guilty over a corruption scheme relating to illegal land swaps and sentenced to 11, 15, and five years of imprisonment, respectively. The fines were  20,000 Br for the first two and 5,000 Br for Tekledingel, on April 22, 2010.

The three were also found guilty on May 10 for a similar land swap corruption scheme relating to Misrak Tsehay, an illegally established housing cooperative. They were accused of forging documents and giving 175sqm of land worth nearly 60 million Br to 162 members of the cooperative since 1989.

Behailu was sentenced to four years, Dehab to seven years, and Tekledingel to seven years of imprisonment and they were fined 10,000 Br, 1,000Br, and 8,000 Br, respectively.

The other six defendants were charged for their participation in the corruption scheme. Negassa Feyera, Aweke Chane, Zerihun Bekele, Engida Dina, and Eyerusalem G. Wold received seven years of imprisonment and 8,000 Br fines. Etenesh Zerfu was sentenced to six years of imprisonment and a 1,000 Br fine.

Ethiopian Airlines will begin a new flight to Pointe-Noire, the second largest city and main commercial centre of the Republic of Congo starting from June 16, 2010. This is also expected to link the city with the airline’s route network, with immediate connection to and from major cities in the world including Paris, London, Beirut, Mumbai, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Beijing, Nairobi, Cairo, Dubai, Stockholm, Rome, and Washington.

The airlines will serve the city three times weekly, flying Boeing 767-300 aircraft on the route offering 235 seats in a two class configuration, according to a press release from Ethiopian.

The airline is committed to providing more service and having more capacity in Africa than any other carrier.

Pointe-Noire is fourth in line after Luanda, Malabo, and Libreville as a major petroleum centre. Pointe-Noire is said to be a major sea port for the country, with amazing beaches that attract tourists from all over the world.

Habesha Breweries SC signed a lease agreement with the Administration of Debre Brehan Town on May 14, 2010, for seven hectares of land for the construction of their factory. The plot is located at Wekafiya, on the south-eastern side of the city, in Kebele 09. The brewery was also given 5,000sqm of land for water use, 1.4km from the factory plot.

Debre Brehan was chosen for establishing the factory due to the existence of highland water, cold weather, production of malt in the area, its closeness to the capital, and its road access to various parts of the country.

The project is already in progress under, Mekonnen Abebe, project manager. The construction of the factory is expected to be finalised at the beginning of 2011.

Thirty per cent of the project is already covered by the sale of shares and the rest from state bank loans, according to a press release from the company.

Habesha Breweries is expected to have a production capacity of 30 million litres in its first year of production. The first factory construction is expected to cost 450 million Br. The company is currently selling shares until July 8, 2010.

This company was established with 200 shares for a paid-up capital of 200,000 Br on August 28, 2009, and registered in October 2009.

A workshop cosponsored by the Sub-regional Office for Eastern Africa (SEF) of the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), and the Nairobi based Eastern and Southern African Development Bank (PTA) was held from May 13 to 14, 2010, in Addis Abeba.

The purpose of the meeting was to propose solutions for the inadequate involvement of the private sector in the production of agricultural products. 

The gap between the demand and supply of agricultural products is rising, and this calls for the involvement of the private sector. Every year, in addition to international food aid, East Africa needs to import over one billion dollars worth of agricultural products, Mafa Chipeta, FAO sub-regional coordinator, said.

The Ethiopian Government is trying to create a favourable environment for the private sector, according to Aster Estifanos, chief advisor to Tefera Derebew, minister of Agriculture and Rural Development (MoARD). The meeting was concluded by outlining the problems that are faced by the private sector and the solutions to tackle this problem.

The Addis Abeba Chamber of Commerce and Sectoral Association (AACCSA) held a meeting on May 11, 2010, at the chamber’s meeting hall to discuss the low quality imports from China.

The meeting focused on the memorandum of understanding that was signed between The Quality and Standards Authority of Ethiopia (QSAE) and the China Administration for Quality Supervision Inspection and Quarantine (CAQSIQ). The agreement contributed to an increase in quality products imported.

However, there are still low quality products imported into the country. One of the main reasons for this is that the products are coming from other third world countries, not directly from China, where before shipment inspection agreements are made.

The QSAE and CAQSIQ signed an agreement on April 1, 2006, which became effective on January 1, 2007, for the inspection of products worth over 2,000 dollars before shipment. The imported products were then required to have inspection certificates in addition to other trading documents.

Unfortunately, some of the certificates have been falsified, according to Almaz Kahsay, director general of the QSAE.

The agreement was made for a five-year period, and now it is the fourth year. The authority was aiming to gather the complaints and recommendations of the importers before signing the next document during the coming year. However, only a few importers were present.

The short-term election observers of the European Union (EU) arrived at Bole International Airport on Saturday, May 15, 2010.

A total of 60 short-term observers from the EU will be deployed to all regions of Ethiopia on Monday, May 17, 2010. The Chief Observer of the European Union Election Observation Mission, Thijs Berman, who had left to attend an EU Parliament meeting, returned to Ethiopia with these observers, a press release issued by the European Union Election Observation Mission stated.

“We hope that the presence of EU observers will contribute to the integrity and credibility of the election process,” Berman said.

The chief observer will hold a meeting with political party representatives, candidates, government and election officials, civil society representatives, and the media.

The designated project includes the establishment of surgical device management and provision of phachoemulsification services. On the job training for local staff will also be part and parcel of the project. The project, which will be implemented through the mutual consultation of KOICA and the hospital, is expected to be completed in one year and benefit more than one thousand people per year.

The Revenue and Customs Authority under the Addis Abeba City Administration’s Economic and Finance Bureau managed to collect exactly half of the 5.4 billion Br it targeted for the whole 2009/10, fiscal year during the last seven months.

The 2.7 billion Br revenue collected from tax and non-tax income, including land lease fees, has shown a 49pc increase from what the authority achieved during the same time last year, according to Belay Tafesse, director general of the authority.

Its business process reengineering (BPR), efficient information gathering (collecting finger prints and cash register machines), and law enforcement contributed to achieving the amount gathered.

“But this is not that much satisfactory, considering the potential,” Belay said, also indicating that the rising number of illegal trades in the city has contributed negatively to the number.

The Addis Abeba Water and Sewerage Authority (AAWSA) made a feasibility study of the master plan for waste disposal in the city.

The plan to dispose of waste through pipelines has been presented to stakeholders prior to the commencement of construction.

AAWSA currently deploys trucks and pipelines for sewerage disposal. However, the authority plans to upgrade the city’s disposal by an additional 800 pipelines.

The design for the eastern sewerage system’s master plan, which has been finalised will benefit residents around Kotebe, Yeka, Bole and CMC areas and will upgrade capacity by over 40pc, according to a press release by the Addis Abeba City Government Communications Affairs.

The master plan for the eastern sewerage system has been finalised and construction will begin in the next fiscal year as soon as the budget has been secured, according to Getnet Gessese, communication affair work process leader at the authority. 

The implementation is expected to benefit some 840,000 residents.

The Addis Abeba Chamber of Commerce and Sectoral Association held an award ceremony at the Hilton Hotel on March 3, 2010, occasioning the closing of the 14th Addis Chamber International Trade Fair.

The first award for Best Stand was given to Al-Sam Plc, Commercial Bank of Ethiopia, Lucky Exports, Italian Trade Commission, MIDROC Technology Group, SNS Household and Office Furniture, Techtra Engineering, Petram Plc, MCO of the Federal Republic of Germany, Holland Car Plc and Q Diagnostics Plc. The second award for Special Partnership was given to GTZ-AMES-E.

The last award for sponsorship was given to Al-Sam Plc, the Development Bank of Ethiopia, Equatorial Business Group, Ethiopian Airlines, Omicron Engineering Plc, Sonic Screen Advertising, I-Print Advertising, Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation and United Insurance SC.

The trade fair that took place at the Addis Abeba Exhibition Centre from February 25 to March 3, 2010 brought together more than 118 local business companies and 108 foreign companies from 23 countries 

The inauguration of the new Ethiopian Institute for Agriculture, Building Construction and City Development (EIABC) was held yesterday, March 6, 2010, at Addis Abeba University (AAU) South Campus.

Demeke Mekonnen minister of Education, Junedin Sado minister of Science and Technology, Andreas Esheté (Prof) president of AAU and Dirk Hebel, Scientific Director of EIABC attended the inaugural ceremony and presented speeches on the significance of the institute.

The EIABC is one of the eight new semiautonomous institutes of technology being introduced in the country at various universities and is part of the overall university reform being conducted by the Engineering Capacity Building Programme (ECBP) and the Ministry of Education.

The university reform component is focused on the restructuring of governance and study programmes as well as technology transfers, standards, and benchmarks.

The ECA hosted the Civil Society Assembly for Assessing Development Challenges in African Least Developed Countries (LDCs) on March 4 and 5, 2010.

The assembly reviewed the Brussels Programme of Action (BPoA) and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

The Brussels Programme reviewed the last 10 year plan since coming to a close and proposed action plans for the coming 10 years.

There are 33 LDCs from Africa including Ethiopia. Cape Verde recently got off of the list of LDCs.

The action plan is to enable the LDCs to reach at least seven per cent of commodity driven growth. The LDCs economic growth is dropping because they are only engaged in exporting primary commodities.

Their exports face structural difficulties since there is no diversified exports, according to Adrian Gauci, economic affairs officer at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA)

In light of these problems, the proposed growth rate may not be possible for the coming two years. The inadequate infrastructure, small economy, less skilled human power is to blame for slow growth rate.

The new package of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), concessional facilities, to support low-income countries, became effective as of January 7, 2010.

This far-reaching reform more than doubles lending resources, provides exceptional interest relief, and offers new lending instruments that are more flexible and responsive to individual country needs, according to an IMF press release.

Key elements of the reform include three new lending instruments, interest relief, and permanently higher concessionality.

The Extended Credit Facility will provide flexible medium-term support; the Standby Credit Facility will address short-term and precautionary needs; and the Rapid Credit facility will offer emergency support with limited conditionality.

The Fund has also relieved developing countries from paying interest on outstanding IMF concessional loans until the end of 2011 to help low-income countries cope with the global crisis. Permanently higher concessionality of Fund financial support refers to regularly reviewed annual interest rates so as to preserve a higher level of concessionality.