The city will have a legislative council, a
cabinet, a mayor and a general manager.
Several of the cabinet members and bureau
heads are from Oromia and the south.
Mekuria Haile (left) is to be appointed as a
general manager, disclosed sources.
The first 5,000qts of cement the Ministry of Works
and Urban Development (MoWUD) purchased from A & G
Global Plc has reached Addis Abeba. The Ministry
struck a deal with a local company terminating its
earlier agreements with the Italian company,
Consnorzro Laperi Nazionali International, because
the company failed to import the cement at the
scheduled time, sources disclosed.
The Addis Abeba City Administration will have a new
city manager when the cabinet, chaired by Kuma
Demeksa, assumes office this week: He will very
likely come from the south, reliable sources
disclosed to Fortune. Mekuria Haile, a
central committee member of the ruling-EPRDF and
head of the Trade and Industry Development Bureau of
the southern regional, is the most likely candidate
to replace Wubishet Berhanu (PhD), who has served in
the position for the past two years.
The Addis Abeba City Caretaker Administration has
established a committee, led by the city’s Master
Plan Development Bureau, to give a final decision on
the fate of the century old main railway station in
Addis Abeba, La Gare. The committee is tasked
with assessing the cost of the part of the station
that would be demolished because of the road
construction, as well as locating another
replacement plot in adjacent areas, or out of the
capital.
China to Build New Referral Hospital for
Addis Abeba
The Chinese government is to build a hospital in
Addis Abeba as one of the 30 it promised to give to
African countries. If constructed, the hospital will
be the third grant that the Chinese government would
make for Addis Abeba.
Hotel De Leopol has finally secured the 1,194sqm
tract of land in front of its main building for the
expansion of its hotel business. The year long
lobbying of officials at the Addis Abeba City
Administration enabled the hotel to win the plot
over nine businessmen, organized under an
association called Dink Sira. The businesses
had already bulldozed the tract of land in a bid to
construct a 10- storey, multi-purpose building.
The Minister of Finance and Economic Development (MoFED),
Sofian Ahmed’s nine months report highlights a 2.5
billon Br budget deficit, which according to him, is
below the international standard.
The Ethiopian Airlines is flying firm against other
airliners in the industry, amassing robust revenues
once again despite the stiff competition in its
business. In the first three quarters of this budget
year, Ethiopian announced that it grossed 6.6
billion Br in revenue, after transporting 1.9
million passengers. Nevertheless, the number of
passengers it carried in the past nine months was
short of its plan for the year, 2.9 million.
The state monopoly, Ethiopian Telecommunication
Corporation (ETC) has attained mixed success, when
evaluating its target against last year’s
performance.
Castle Group’s 125hct wine plantation developed in
Ziway, 163Km south of Addis Abeba, was inaugurated
on Saturday May 10, 2008. The 125hct land is part
of the 493hct land the French wine company has been
granted in a country where wine would be the last
thing to associate with. The company invested 40
million Br for the first phase of the plantation,
which will go towards the construction of a factory
in July 2009.
Fifteen International Companies are bidding to win a
tender issued by the newly established Ethiopian
Railway Corporation (ERC). The corporation issued
the Engineering Procurement and Construction (EPC)
tender for the installation of a railway line in
Addis Abeba.
Fekerte Zeleke, 35, lives with her two children in
Hora village of Kebele 15 in Bishoftu (Debrezeit)
town. Though she says she is happy with life, the
cost of household energy consumption, coupled with
the price hike, still worries her.
Incoming Administration to Address Urbanites’ Plight
The incoming team of the ruling EPRDF to the Addis
Abeba City Administration, to be led by Kuma Demeksa,
will have fighting the rising cost of living in the
city as its immediate priority, disclosed reliable
sources. The new team has already identified that
Addis Abeba is facing five major problems: the
rising cost of living, a lack of adequate housing, a
shortage of potable water, an absence of good
governance, and unemployment.
Incoming City Administration to Strike Major
Deals with Oromia
The forthcoming cabinet of the Addis Abeba City
Administration will enter into a number of
agreements with the Oromia Regional State on land
and environmental protection issues, reliable
sources have disclosed.
The long awaited for transformer that maneuvered
through the twisted Addis-Jimma highway has been
found defective. The transformer was meant for a
Gilgel Gibe II power project owned by the Ethiopian
Electric Power Corporation.
The Council of Ministers has, on Friday, May 16,
2008, approved what industry analysts say is a
stringent bill proposed by the National Bank of
Ethiopia (NBE). The law would replace the January
1994 banking law introducing more intimidating fines
and prison terms for offenders.
