The company has allocated 11 million Br as initial capital for plant construction and the duty-free import of machineries from Pakistan.
 

Mohammed K. Kamil, chief executive officer of East Africa Operations for Sheba Steel Mills, told Fortune that the high demand for plastic pipes in Ethiopia, especially for use in low cost housing construction, initiated the company to invest in plastic production. He said that their steel and plastic pipe clients were the same and that Sheba Mills intended to supply both products. They are only planning to distribute the products domestically.
 

Design and construction of the factory plant will be done by engineers and architects from Pakistan. Building materials like blocks and tiles will be imported from the company’s own factories there as well. When the factory starts operation in May 2007, the expected production capacity will be 3,500 to 4,000 pipes per day.
 

Parent company Sheba Steel Mills is a Pakistani company established in Bishoftu Industrial Zone in 2001 with a 40 million Br initial capital. It now has a 200 million Br capital.

Sheba Steel Mills has investments in Pakistan and Bangladesh; Ethiopia is its third location in Africa, after Kenya and Tanzania. Sheba Plastic is their second investment in Ethiopia.