ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, Aug 13 (NNN-ENA) – Ethiopia and China are set to partner, to build a new 300-million-U.S. dollar industrial park in the east African country.
Liu Yu, economic and commercial counsellor at the Chinese Embassy in Ethiopia, said that, construction of the park, located in Adama city, 99 km south-east of Addis Ababa, could start before the end of 2019.
Liu said, 85 percent of the funding needed, to build the park, will be covered through Chinese government concessional loans, while the rest 15 percent will come from the Ethiopian government.
“The planned industrial park will focus on attracting firms engaged in equipment manufacturing,” Liu said, noting that, work is being done to conclude land acquisition and financing-related procedures.
It will be the second industrial park in Adama city, a key commercial hub in central Ethiopia, with Chinese finance and expertise.
“China and Ethiopia have attached great importance to their cooperation in various fields, including in construction of industrial parks, whereby they have achieved fruitful results,” Liu said.
The first Adama industrial park, which was built by China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC), at a cost of 146 million dollars, was inaugurated by Ethiopian Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, in Oct, 2018.
Covering 100 hectares of land, the industrial park is expected to create job opportunities for around 25,000 Ethiopians, and is part of Ethiopia’s grand plan, to transform its largely agrarian economy into an industrialised one by 2025.– NNN-ENA
