The long awaited Hiber Sugar S.C., once on the verge of bankruptcy, is now evaluating two separate bid processes, one to hire a company to conduct a feasibility study and another to provide consultancy services for construction of the plant.
Metal & Engineering Corporation (MetEC) will undertake the construction of the factory as a turnkey project. The two sides have signed a Memorandum of Understanding in October 2013, leading to a contract worth 250 million dollars in July .
According to sources close to MetEC, geological studies have already started at the future factory site of Hiber.
Hiber opened bid for the consultants on October 14, 2015. Those that have made offers for the feasibility study are Agripole Consulting & Trading Plc; Bukrete, an Indian company in partnership with Yerer Engineering; SOFRECO Consultancy, and Inforad Consulting Plc.
The study will identify the exact cost of building and making the company operational. Completion is expected in six months from contract.
For consulting the construction work, two consulting firms, Weleba and SOFRECO, are being considered. Hiber is making financial evaluation to select one, according to Mengeste Telaye, CEO of the company.
The company has also submitted 70 pages of machinery specifications, which it expects MetEC to install for the factory.
MetEC is currently constructing the Kuraz and Beles sugar factories under contract with the government.
The company has planned to germinate sugar cane for this fiscal year, which it will do on 2,940ha of land. This plot is part of the 6,183ha of land it leased in Jawi Wereda of Awi Zone in the Amhara Regional State. It leased the land for 40 years as of March 2013.
“Work on irrigation and roads are also included in the plan and all this has to run in parallel with the construction of the factory,” said Mengiste, adding that it was agreed that construction would be completed within 30 months.
When it is completed Hiber will produce 6,000qt of sugar per day. Established by 30 founding members with capital of 600,000 Br in 2009, it has now reached to 100 million Br of paid-up capital.
“Since the capital is not yet sufficient for the construction the factory, we are looking for equity firms or joint ventures that can work with us,” added Mengiste.
“We have already found interested parties but it is too early to disclose further on this,” he added.
The company’s previous attempts to partner with over 10 foreign companies have failed.
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