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Chinese Jiangsu Qiyaan Investment Group is to
construct the first private industrial zone in Dukem,
Oromia Regional State, on five square kilometre
leased plot. A steering committee headed by Girma
Biru, minister of Trade and Industry, was created to
support the company on request by the Prime
Minister’s Office.
Also included in the committee are Muktar Kedir,
vice president of the Oromia Regional State; Abi
Woldemeskel, director general of Ethiopian
Investment Agency (EIA); Mihiret Debebe, general
manager of Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPCo),
Amare Amsalu, general manager of Ethiopian
Telecommunications Corporation (ETC); Zaid
Woldegebriel, general manager of the Ethiopian Roads
Authority (ERA); and an official from Jiangsu.
Named after a Chinese town, Jiangsu, has been
managing its own industrial zone in China for the
last 30 years. Experts drawn from the Oromia
Regional State and the federal government are
scheduled to pay a working visit to the industrial
village of the company in China.
Jinagsu’s communication with the Prime Minister’s
Office concerning the industrial zone construction
bore fruit as the PM has delegated the Ministry of
Trade and Industry (MoTI) to facilitate ways in
which the stated industrial lot will be arranged and
handed over to the company. In accordance with its
responsibility, the Ministry brought its plot
request to the Addis Abeba City Caretaker
Administration (AACCA).
Wubishet Berhanu (PhD), general manager of the city,
however, replied to the request stating in its
letter that such a vast plot is unavailable in the
metropolis. The Ministry, thereafter, looked into
granting land around Adama (Nazaret) but the
company was after a location closer to Addis Abeba.
Subsequently, the parties managed to agree on the
plot in Dukem, Oromia Regional State, 37Km east of
the national capital.
Jinagsu’s ‘Eastern Industry Zone’ will be ready for
local and foreign investment in textile and garment,
leather and leather product, construction
machineries and steel manufacturing sectors.
Moreover, banking services and offices of the
Ethiopian Customs Authority and Quality and
Standards Authority will be opened in the industrial
compound.
Girma told Fortune Jiangsu plans to attract
80 Chinese companies once its 500 million dollar
project is completed.
Until the finalisation of this project, the PM will
be briefed with reports every month as to its
progress.
An official at MoTI told Fortune this project
would be given utmost support as it encompasses
industries the government is actively supporting
under its plan to encurage agro-processing and other
infant industries.
Amidst this discourse, there are still points of
division between the company and the committee which
are yet to be agreed upon.
The committee declined to accept one of the
company’s demands of transporting machineries to the
project site using its own heavy trucks as this is
only reserved only for local transporters. The other
request, which was denied, is the foreign exchange
demand of the company for its various procurements.
As the country is short of foreign currencies, the
company has been told to use its own sources of
foreign currency.
If this negotiation is finalised in the coming two
months, the handing over of the area would take
place after paying compensation to the farmers that
would be evicted from the specified area, an
official from the Regional State told Fortune.
A Chinese company will handle the construction works
of the first privately owned industrial zone. Though
various industrial zones have been designated and
fenced in cities, there are still shortcomings in
handing them over to investors as major
infrastructure facilities - road, water and power -
have not been installed in them. In an evaluation
made by MoTI six months ago, Addis Abeba and Oromia
were found to be weaker in actively working towards
their realisation, although the latter has recently
shown modest improvement, a source at the MoTI told
Fortune.
However, industrial zones in Addis Abeba, which are
fenced, still have not been handed over to
investors. Although over 1,000 investors requested
industrial plots in the past two years, not even one
of them could get the land. One of these investors
told Fortune that the coming of the Chinese
company to develop the industrial zone would solve
their problem.
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