New Industrial Parks Take Shape

A group of Chinese companies have signed an agreement to band together and build industrial parks at a cost of ten billion Birr.

The companies, CGC Overseas Construction Group (CGCOC) China Contraction Group China Communications Construction Company (CCCC) and China’s Tiesiju Civil Engineering Group Co Ltd (CTCE), have signed a deal to build three industrial parks, which will be located in Addis Abeba and Oromia Regional state.

The signing was held at the Sheraton Addis Hotel on January 18, 2017 in the presence of Sisay Gemechu, CEO of the Industrial Parks Development Corporation (IPDC).

This is not the first time that industrial park projects have gone to these same companies. Previous awarded projects including Adama, Meqele, Kombolcha and Dire Dawa were contracted to similar Chinese companies.

“At the end of the second Growth & Transformation Plan (GTP II), we’ll have local companies which will be capable of building industrial parks,” said Arkebe Oqubay (PhD), IPDC, told Fortune in October 2015.

Two of the three new industrial parks will be located in Addis Abeba and one in Jimma. Two of the parks will be dedicated to textile industries, and one will be dedicated to the pharmaceuticals industry.

In this respect, CTCE was awarded the contract for the first industrial part specifically dedicated to pharmaceutical and medical equipments, which will be located in Qilinto and built at a total cost of 5.5 billion Br. The project is expected to be completed within 12 months and will cover 279ha.

This specific award to CTCE came just weeks after government officials from the Ministry of Industry and the Investment Commission conducted a meeting with local pharma producers and importers on the possibility of developing the park.

The financing of the project will be from a loan from the World Development Bank, fund from China Import and Export (EXIM) Bank and the Ethiopian Government.

The government will cover the budget of the Jimma industrial park project, which will cover an area of 75ha and will cost 1.5 billion Br. The project is awarded to CGC overseas.

The agreement document included a green economy policy to protect the environment from industrial pollution. The project will include the planting of trees and providing various facilities to the residents around the area, such as commercial facilities and infrastructure. This includes roads, power, telecom, water, shopping malls and banking.

The third project, Bole Lemi Phase II, will be located in Bole district, Addis Abeba. It is expected to cost 3.5 billion Br and will cover 170ha. The project is given to CGC Overseas and It is expected to be completed in the next 12 months. The first phase of Bole Lemi took more than five years for 23 local contractors to complete.

 


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