A Chinese state firm, COMPLANT, has been given a contract worth 12 million Br to study the potential reserve of a coal site, in the Illibabur Zone, Oromia Regional State, to produce UREA fertilizer.

An agreement was signed on March 9, 2006, between Zhang Lemin, deputy general manager of COMPLANT and Kassaye Yeshitella, acting head of the project office for coal phosphate fertilizer complex under the Ministry of Trade. The government has had a long-standing interest in developing coal reserves at this site to build a fertilizer manufacturing plant.

The Addis Abeba City Administration has begun handing over plots in the capital to the Oromia Regional State, which has moved the seat of its government from Adama (Nazareth), following a decision made in August 2005.

Following relocation back to Addis, the Oromia Regional State requested land from the City Administration to build its offices and houses for its employees. The constitution entitles Oromia special privileges in Addis Abeba.

A Pakistani firm took over the management of SUR Construction, one of the 13 subsidiaries of the Endowment Fund for the Rehabilitation of Tigray (EFFORT) two weeks ago, landing on a contract that awards them up to eight million dollars for five years, disclosed sources.

The management contract was signed three weeks ago with Tradesmen Engineering, and prompted the departure of Tesfaye Kidane, the company’s general manager for the past five years. The fate of 13 top managers is hanging in the balance, according to sources.

A source at the Authority told Fortune that the Board was dissolved because it was inactive. The new Board met for the first time at the beginning of February. 

The Addis Abeba Water and Sewage Authority (AAWSA) Board has been dissolved by the City Cabinet and replaced by a new one.

The first transit, forwarding and customs clearance agent, Ethio-Somland Trading Plc has been opened by Ethiopian and Somaliland nationals to service Ethiopian goods that come through the Port of Berbera.

The Republic of Somaliland, which has not been given recognition as a state by world governments, is now home to the first-ever commercial company opened by Ethiopian and Somaliland citizens, according to the head of the Somaliland Commercial Office in Ethiopia.

The 3.5 million dollar project owned by the Ministry of Education (MoE) to connect 161 schools across the country to the internet has not been completed on time.

The project, part of the larger SchoolNet project which uses broadband V-SAT technology to give internet access, was initiated by the Ministries of Capacity Building and in 2003 and has cost an estimated 1.2 billion Br including the plasma screenproject.

Africa Vacation Club Plc is planning to build a resort at a cost of 1.6 million dollars on a 44,000sqm plot received from the Oromia Regional State.

The plot, located 212Km south of Addis Abeba, on the edge of Lake Langano, was handed over to the company last month. The Club paid one Birr per square metre on a 40-year lease.

Nazareth Tractor Assembly S.C. is preparing to take over Welega Agricultural Development Enterprise (WAD) properties that are currently under the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development (MoFED).

Nazareth sent a technical committee to look at the properties of the Enterprise in east Welega Zone in the Oromia Regional State. The committee’s report stated that the properties would be useful to the company. Management is expected to submit a proposal to MoFED this week to take over the properties.

The first privately owned Finnish company to invest in Ethiopia, Sabure World Plc is building three factories on a 60,000sqm plot in the Akaki-Kaliti Industrial Zone.

Established by Elias Sabura, an Ethiopian born Finnish citizen, the company is investing 20 million Br in the energy and dairy processing sectors. The three factories will include a dairy processing plant, a gel fuel production plant and a charcoal production plant. The gel fuel will be produced from ethanol which is a by-product of sugar, and the charcoal will be produced from eucalyptus trees.

AnyWay Solid Environmental Solutions Ltd, an Israeli company, has introduced a new solution to stabilize road foundations, which will reduce the need for excavation and transporting heavy materials.

The company introduced its product, RBI Grade 81, to local contractors, consultants, designers and academicians from Addis Abeba University, and officials from the Addis Abeba City Road Authority (AACRA) and the Ethiopian Roads Authority (ERA), at its half-day workshop at the Hilton Hotel on Tuesday, March 7, 2006. Nir Izhaki, director of Business Development of the company, told Fortune that Ethiopia is the 16th African country in which the company has introduced its product. Marathon Corporation Ltd represents the company locally.

Green Plc plans to construct an essential oil extraction plant in Legetafo, 19Km north-east of Addis Abeba, to produce a basic ingredient for petroleum jelly and candle mosquito repellents.

Established in 1999 as an export and import commission agent by its owner and Managing Director, Gezaye Ambaye, Green Plc replaced its former name, Urteg International Trading Plc, when it entered the manufacturing business a year ago. It used to mainly distribute products for the US International Flavours and Fragrances Inc. (IFF), a manufacturer of chemicals, essential oils, fragrances and flavours.

SNAP Trading and Industry Plc launched three models of personal computers under the brand name Conic last week.  

Established in 1999 by Negussie Debessa and Selmawit Bekele with a paid up capital of one million Birr and seven employees, SNAP was originally engaged in the import and distribution of computers and their accessories for retailers. The company has an authorized business partnership agreement with the multi-national Hewlett Packard and another with Acer for an executive business partner distribution right for their products.

The Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation (ETC) opened the financial offers of a procurement tender for 100,000 telephone apparatus two weeks ago.

The same six companies which had participated in the technical evaluation three months ago advanced to the financial offer when the tender was opened on Friday, March 3, 2006 at the Corporation’s headquarters, Churchill Avenue.

We are in the fasting season that lasts 55 days. During this time we abstain from eating meat or any dairy products. Of late, many regulars have also included alcoholic beverages in their abstinence list. So, what do people eat instead?

The traditional recipes eaten during Lent are bountiful and varied. They are no less nutritious than meaty food as they contain protein and other constructive dietary ingredients. Marine food, fish being chief among them, are a good substitute for meat although eating fish has always been controversial. The reason for this is that fish has blood and should, therefore, also be a food from which one abstains.

I am technologically challenged. That is to say, technology and I have it in for each other. I cannot name any real arch-enemies in my life, except for technology. The irony of this is that I absolutely have to use technology in both my work and my private life.

Every piece of technology that I have come into contact with has had a way of just collapsing on me. I mean, it just drops dead. So, I am stuck between a rock and a hard place, and it is far from comfortable.

Oh GDP
How much Number-Crunching is Done in Thy Name?

The economic commentary published on Fortune last week, [Volume 6 Number 305, March 5, 2006] headlined, “Here Comes Inflation - Adios Cheap Oil”, is a valuable source of insight into the Ethiopian economy. The economic commentator is certainly an accomplished economist who thinks and writes in terms of economic concepts and practice.