WELCOMING THE WEST

Adamu Labara (left), resident representative of the International Financial Corporation (IFC) and Jean Philippe Prosper (right), director for Eastern and Southern Africa of the IFC, look on as Eyesuswork Zafu (centre), president of the Ethiopian Chamber of Commerce and Sectoral Assocition (ECCSA), makes a speech during the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for financing the formation of Public-Private Consultative Fora, Facilitation and Coordination Secretariat on Wednesday, October 5, 2011. The modality of implementation for the financing is to be worked out between the representatives of ECCSA and IFC, the private sector arm of the World Bank Group.

Andrea Scanzani, branch manager of Salini Construttori SpA in Addis Abeba, shows how large the newly bought Caterpillar made Off Highway Truck is when parked inside the Port of Djibouti last week. Bought at a cost of 300,000 euro each, Salini has brought 20 of these heavy duty machines at a total cost of 150 million Br. These are only part of a large contingent of a little over 50 dampers, rollers, excavators, graders, mixers and including two loaders by same manufacturer, each cost 1.5 million dollars. The latter are the first of their kind to enter Ethiopia’s construction industry, according to Scanzani. Added to the 100 machines already brought in the country, these machines inside the port are all to be deployed at the project site of the Grand Renaissance Dam.

“I’ve never seen any thing like these,” said Pierre Vinggarra, manager at Kothari, the shipping agent in Djibouti of Salini. 

A member of Leonardo Eto and his group of drummers and dancers attempts to dance Guragegna with three Ethiopian dancers during the performance at the National Theatre on Wednesday, October 5, 2011. The performance was part of their Blendrums East Africa Tour, 2011. Leonardo, who has performed with musicians such as Bob Dylan and Bon Jovi, and his group were playing as part of the Japan Embassy’s 2011 cultural exchange program, which has included the recent pottery exhibition.

Zablon Trading announced that it has earned five million dollars from the export of cereals and oil seeds to the United States, Israel, Pakistan, and China. The company, which was established with an initial capital of 10 million Br in 2009, and leasing a 10,000sqm plot from Adam (Nazret) Town administration for 40 years at 0.81 cents per square meter, was officially inaugurated on September 13, 2011.

Zablon, founded by Biniam Bedawi, has a capacity to process 3,000tn of cereals and oil seeds for export purpose. It plans to increase its profit fivefold in the next five years, according to Biniam, who is also the general manager of the company. “The profit for the last year could have been more,” he said. “However, shortage of supply from the farmers resulted in less profit than expected.”

The company has machinery imported from China and Turkey which can sort and package 80 quintals of oil seeds and cereals in one hour, according to Biniam, who also has an oil refinery. The company, whose capital has reached 30 million, has two warehouses, with a capacity of storing 60,000 and 140,000 quintals, and a three storey office building which rests on 260sqm.

The country earned 487.6 million dollars by exporting 225,549tns of cereals and 298,384tns oil seeds in 2010/11 fiscal year.

Spurred by the road construction projected in Ethiopia’s five-year economic plan, Du Pont, an American-based company that operates globally in 90 countries, is aiming to enter the market providing Asphalt modification technology.

In a bid to convince stakeholders in the sector of the benefits of using Polymer Modified Bitumen (PMB) application in road construction, the company, which was established in 1802 in the United States, held a seminar on October 5, 2011 at Sheraton Hotel. Among those present were ERA and AACRA, Quality Assurance and Control Authority, National Petroleum Enterprise and Contractors. The company aims to sell Elavaloy, the company’s industrial polymer product used in PMB.

PMB will increase the elasticity and, resilience of asphalt roads by strengthening the asphalt to carry heavy traffic loads and resist high temperatures so that it will prevent early cracking, according to Richard Ntombela, Du Pont Sub-Saharan Africa Sales and Technical specialist on industrial polymers. He presented some cases of early cracking and deformation on Ethiopian highways like Mojo- Awasa, Awash-Nazret and Addis Abeba-Gohatsion.

“PMB can help avoid unnecessary maintenance cost and we are planning to supply Elvaloy to Ethiopia,” told Fortune. “PMB have already been extremely effective for a number of years in developed countries globally, as well as utilised successfully in the construction of national roads for emerging African countries.”

The five-year economic plan of the country aims to increase the total road length from 48,800km to 64,500km and construct new 71,523km all weather road.

The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) is to be restructured soon, with Ernest & Young (EY) as a consultant. Delegates from six member states and staff discussed and validated a proposal from Ernest & Young on how best the organisation can meet its mandate. Restructuring the regional organization would overhaul financial management, human resources, and procurement and internal controlling systems in line with international best practices, according to a press release from the organization.

Changes to be made in the working procedures of the organization, created in 1996 to supersede the Intergovernmental Authority on Drought and Development (IGADD), which was founded in 1986, are expected to make it eligible for direct funding from partners as financial management would be aligned with supply side procedures.

Although the organization has upgraded its systems, policies and operational manuals recently, it is anticipated that the restructuring will bring about an overall revitalization. One of the objectives of the organization is to promote joint development strategies and gradually harmonize macro-economic policies and programmes in the social, technological and scientific fields.

The Federal Ethics and Anti Corruption Commission (FIAC) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the World Bank (WB) for exchanging information on cases of corruption cases related to projects the later finances. The agreement was signed between Ali Suleiman, commissioner of the commission and Leonard McCarthy, World Bank's Integrity vice president, at the headquarters of the commission, on Monday, October 4, 2011.  

Financed by the World Bank (WB), commission is conducting the second national baseline corruption survey at a cost of 7.9 million Br this year. The Tanzanian based American company, Kilimanjaro International Cooperation, is the conducting the study. The most intensive corruption rate is observed in places where financial resources are transferred, in the allocation of scarce resources such as land and where contracts are enforced by court of law, according to the first baseline survey conducted by The Institute of Educational Research of Addis Abeba University (AAU).

Accordingly, Institutions that are singled out to be highly corrupted and inefficient by households and business enterprises included Customs Authority, the police, including traffic police, and all utility service institutions.

Ethiopian Airlines (ET) is to start flights to Victoria, the capital of the Republic of Seychelles, one of the most favorite tourist destination cities in East Africa. The carrier which will begin the service three times a week in November this year will serve Seychelles using Boing 737 wide body aircraft.

Ethiopian, one of the largest and fastest growing airlines in Africa, which made its first flight to Cairo in 1946, expects to handle passenger and cargo services flying from any part of the world to Seychelles and vice versa through its hub at Addis Ababa International Airport.

The new flight to Victoria marks the national flag carrier’s 62 destination globally and 40th in Africa, further expanding the airline’s route network as part of the company’s strategic initiative to link up major African cities with the rest of the world. 

The flag carrier made a net profit of 121.4 million dollars, ranking it as the most profitable airline in Africa by far, according to 2011 report by Air transport Report (ATR).

The Ethiopian Roads Authority (ERA) has signed agreements amounting to five billion Br for 46 projects with 15 contractors and 31 consultants in announcement made during its annual meeting held at Alem Gena, located 19Km from Addis Abeba, on August 12, 2011.

The agreements were signed between 12 new contractors including the Diriba Defersa General Contractor with the highest contact of 623 million Br. In addition, ERA signed agreements with three contractors that have pre-existing contracts with the authority, including SATCON Construction, Alemayehu Ketema General Contractor, and Gemshu Beyene Construction, signing contracts amounting to 698 million Br, 479 million Br and 777 million Br, respectively.

The agreement consists of erecting about 555Km in roads out of which 357Km will be for asphalt road construction and the rest of 201Km will be for gravel road construction.

The ERA planned to work on 19,563Km of road construction, and budgeted 13.6 billion Br in the fiscal year of 2010/2011. The plan includes rehabilitation, upgrading and construction of 1,755Km.

The World Bank (WB) has introduced a new strategy for Africa titled, “Africa’s future and the WB’s support to it.” This serves to boost African economies in the same manner as those of Asia which took off three decades ago, it stated in a press release.

The three main areas on which the project is focused are competitiveness and employment, vulnerability and resilience, as well as governance and the public sector.

“The strategy is as much a reflection of what we heard from Africa’s people and leaders as it is the thinking of the WB,” according to Shantayanan Devarajan, chief economist for Africa at the bank.

The new strategy reverses the order of importance of the bank’s instruments to support Africa, with the most important aspect becoming partnerships, followed by knowledge and finance, according to the press release.

“We are excited about Africa’s future,” Obiageli Ezekwesili, vice president of the Africa Region for the WB, is quoted as saying in the press release. “We used the opportunity of our new strategy to listen, learn, and define how to better support the continent’s aspirations as it maintains the momentum of economic reforms over the next decade.”

The state owned Weyra Transport SC replaced its old and outdated vehicles and trailers with 50 new ones that have the capacity to handle 45,000 litres of liquid goods each. A ceremony was held on June 21, 2010 for the presentation of the new vehicles.

The vehicles, imported from China, cost the company 75 million Br. Seventy per cent of the financing was covered by a loan from the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE). The trailers were assembled by Mesfin Industrial Engineering.

The trucks will be assigned to transport oil for Total and OiLibya.

Weyra’s market share has grown from four per cent to seven per cent because of the new trucks, according to Mesfin Tefera, managing director of the company.

Beyene Gebre Meskel, director of the Privatisation and Public Enterprises Supervising Agency (PPESA); board members; and other officials were present at the inauguration of the vehicles.  

The designated project includes the establishment of surgical device management and provision of phachoemulsification services. On the job training for local staff will also be part and parcel of the project. The project, which will be implemented through the mutual consultation of KOICA and the hospital, is expected to be completed in one year and benefit more than one thousand people per year.

The Revenue and Customs Authority under the Addis Abeba City Administration’s Economic and Finance Bureau managed to collect exactly half of the 5.4 billion Br it targeted for the whole 2009/10, fiscal year during the last seven months.

The 2.7 billion Br revenue collected from tax and non-tax income, including land lease fees, has shown a 49pc increase from what the authority achieved during the same time last year, according to Belay Tafesse, director general of the authority.

Its business process reengineering (BPR), efficient information gathering (collecting finger prints and cash register machines), and law enforcement contributed to achieving the amount gathered.

“But this is not that much satisfactory, considering the potential,” Belay said, also indicating that the rising number of illegal trades in the city has contributed negatively to the number.

The Addis Abeba Water and Sewerage Authority (AAWSA) made a feasibility study of the master plan for waste disposal in the city.

The plan to dispose of waste through pipelines has been presented to stakeholders prior to the commencement of construction.

AAWSA currently deploys trucks and pipelines for sewerage disposal. However, the authority plans to upgrade the city’s disposal by an additional 800 pipelines.

The design for the eastern sewerage system’s master plan, which has been finalised will benefit residents around Kotebe, Yeka, Bole and CMC areas and will upgrade capacity by over 40pc, according to a press release by the Addis Abeba City Government Communications Affairs.

The master plan for the eastern sewerage system has been finalised and construction will begin in the next fiscal year as soon as the budget has been secured, according to Getnet Gessese, communication affair work process leader at the authority. 

The implementation is expected to benefit some 840,000 residents.

The Addis Abeba Chamber of Commerce and Sectoral Association held an award ceremony at the Hilton Hotel on March 3, 2010, occasioning the closing of the 14th Addis Chamber International Trade Fair.

The first award for Best Stand was given to Al-Sam Plc, Commercial Bank of Ethiopia, Lucky Exports, Italian Trade Commission, MIDROC Technology Group, SNS Household and Office Furniture, Techtra Engineering, Petram Plc, MCO of the Federal Republic of Germany, Holland Car Plc and Q Diagnostics Plc. The second award for Special Partnership was given to GTZ-AMES-E.

The last award for sponsorship was given to Al-Sam Plc, the Development Bank of Ethiopia, Equatorial Business Group, Ethiopian Airlines, Omicron Engineering Plc, Sonic Screen Advertising, I-Print Advertising, Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation and United Insurance SC.

The trade fair that took place at the Addis Abeba Exhibition Centre from February 25 to March 3, 2010 brought together more than 118 local business companies and 108 foreign companies from 23 countries 

The inauguration of the new Ethiopian Institute for Agriculture, Building Construction and City Development (EIABC) was held yesterday, March 6, 2010, at Addis Abeba University (AAU) South Campus.

Demeke Mekonnen minister of Education, Junedin Sado minister of Science and Technology, Andreas Esheté (Prof) president of AAU and Dirk Hebel, Scientific Director of EIABC attended the inaugural ceremony and presented speeches on the significance of the institute.

The EIABC is one of the eight new semiautonomous institutes of technology being introduced in the country at various universities and is part of the overall university reform being conducted by the Engineering Capacity Building Programme (ECBP) and the Ministry of Education.

The university reform component is focused on the restructuring of governance and study programmes as well as technology transfers, standards, and benchmarks.

The ECA hosted the Civil Society Assembly for Assessing Development Challenges in African Least Developed Countries (LDCs) on March 4 and 5, 2010.

The assembly reviewed the Brussels Programme of Action (BPoA) and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

The Brussels Programme reviewed the last 10 year plan since coming to a close and proposed action plans for the coming 10 years.

There are 33 LDCs from Africa including Ethiopia. Cape Verde recently got off of the list of LDCs.

The action plan is to enable the LDCs to reach at least seven per cent of commodity driven growth. The LDCs economic growth is dropping because they are only engaged in exporting primary commodities.

Their exports face structural difficulties since there is no diversified exports, according to Adrian Gauci, economic affairs officer at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA)

In light of these problems, the proposed growth rate may not be possible for the coming two years. The inadequate infrastructure, small economy, less skilled human power is to blame for slow growth rate.

The new package of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), concessional facilities, to support low-income countries, became effective as of January 7, 2010.

This far-reaching reform more than doubles lending resources, provides exceptional interest relief, and offers new lending instruments that are more flexible and responsive to individual country needs, according to an IMF press release.

Key elements of the reform include three new lending instruments, interest relief, and permanently higher concessionality.

The Extended Credit Facility will provide flexible medium-term support; the Standby Credit Facility will address short-term and precautionary needs; and the Rapid Credit facility will offer emergency support with limited conditionality.

The Fund has also relieved developing countries from paying interest on outstanding IMF concessional loans until the end of 2011 to help low-income countries cope with the global crisis. Permanently higher concessionality of Fund financial support refers to regularly reviewed annual interest rates so as to preserve a higher level of concessionality.