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The sudden death of Gaweri Parsad, chief technical
advisor of JP Mukherji & Associated Pvt Ltd,
postponed the Engineering Procurement Construction (EPC)
contract that was to be signed between Wonji-Shoa
and UTTAM, an Indian-based company, on Thursday. The
agreement is expected to be signed on Monday
afternoon.
The veteran advisor, who for the past 20 years had
been advising Mukherji on the Ethiopian sugar
industry, passed away on January 15 at Hayat
Hospital while undergoing treatment. According to
the hospital report, the cause for his death was
internal bleeding in his head.
Active in Ethiopia since the 1970s, JP Mukherji was
entrusted as the advisor to the Ethiopian government
in the evaluation and selection process of bidders
that will be hired to supply and install the sugar
mill plants. Parsad has also been highly involved in
Ethiopian sugar projects.
“Parsad was an asset to Ethiopian sugar
development,” Deres Yalew, head of procurement
department at the Tendaho Sugar Factory Project
Office, told Fortune.
Including the Wonji-Shoa project, the Ethiopian
government has allocated 15 billion Br for the
expansion of two sugar factories - Finchaa and
Metehara - and the construction of a brand new Sugar
Factory, Tendaho. JP Mukherji is the consultant of
these projects.
The agreement was postponed because it could not be
signed without the presence of the consultant.
Executives of the company have gone to India
accompanying the deceased, sources disclosed.
Overseas Infrastructure Alliance signed the EPC
contract for the Tendaho and Finchaa sugar projects
while UTTAM is expected to sign its agreement for
the Wonji-Shoa Project.
UTTAM won three of the four tenders floated by
Wonji-Shoa; juice extraction, stem generation and
processing house. Another Indian manufacturing firm,
ISJAK, won the fourth tender for powerhouse
construction and is expected to subcontract it to
UTTAM. This company will also undertake the Tendaho
processing house.
The expansion would upgrade the capacity of
Wonji-Shoa, which currently produces 700,000qts of
sugar, threefold as its crushing capacity would
increase from 300tns of sugarcane to 12,500tns,
Getahun Tadesse, board chairman of Wonji told
Fortune. The factory’s total land holdings is
also planned to increase to 16,000hct from the
current 7,000hct.
The agreements for the projects were made to be EPCs
as there are two more winners of the various lots in
tender floated for the projects. Just a week ago,
Overseas signed an EPC agreement as it won two lots
for the Tendaho and Wonji projects each. UTTAM will
also sign an EPC agreement as it has won three lots
for the Wonji project.
The idea to sign an EPC agreement came from the
Indian EXIM Bank, which financed 640 million dollars
for the projects. The financier supplied a soft loan
in order not to communicate all the winners of the
various lots.
Ethiopia’s annual demand of sugar stands at 3.5
million quintals but the three sugar factories
jointly produce only three million quintals. When
the sugar projects get finalised, Ethiopia is
expected to produce 15 million quintals of sugar
annually. Of the 15 billion Br required for these
projects, the financing obtained from India covers
39pc.
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