Ethiopian Transport Authority Vehicle Testing to Begin

Quote:
The Ethiopian Transport Authority expects to commence automated vehicle testing as soon as next month it was reported. The authority is close to set standards for vehicle testing in Ethiopia.

The standards are being modeled on those established by other countries such as Indonesia and Kenya and customized to fit the realities in Ethiopia according to officials at the authority.

Some technicians express concern that the standards are set too high for many cars in Ethiopia. The new standards will mandate testing for brakes, efficient suspension and exhaust emission as well as the authenticity of the chassis and the overall condition of the car body.
A particular cause for concern is the test for emissions which may incur high maintenance costs on some vehicles.

The impact of the new standards is difficult to anticipate according to Meshesha Haile Financial Operational and Adminstrative Manager of Gigar, one of the ten companies selected to conduct testing.

The Ethiopian Transport Authority claims that the new standards are based on random inspections it carried out.

It is to be remembered that the eight companies selected to provide the inspection services are Global Insurance, Gigar Trading, Care Tech plc, Hagbes plc, Tikur Abay Transport SC, MN Drivers plc, Orbis and Reis Engineering.

96.5 Million Birr Theme Park

Expected to be the largest of its kind a park and Family Recreation center is to be developed with 96.5 million birr capital in the Cmc Samit Area. The 4400sqm plot of land is the newest project of Triway Capital Service Share Company a firm which is active in the educational sector. The 4400sqm plot of land is the newest project of True Way Capital Service Share Company a firm which is active in the educational sector.

The Reporter spoke with managing director of the firm Bekele Eshete, and he made it known that True way Capital Services Share Company development began on this Sunday and is projected to end on June 7th 2012. The theme park is to feature amusement rides, water based rides, a zoo and a modern cinema would be amongst the many attractions of this recreational and family oriented venue, according to True way's managing director.He described the financing and profitability by stating that 50 million birr will be raised through the sale of shares and a 38% annual profit forecast. 170 employees will be working on permanent basis and a turn out of 500 people per day (200,000 visitors per year) are expected.

True way Capital Services Share company founded True way Parents Academy which has been active for 5 years now.

Cement industry sees dramatic expansion
By Elias Gebreselassie
Monday, 19 December 2011 08:39


Seven new major cement projects are on the way this year. Five new factories will be completed and two existing ones will be expanded. This will mean an additional 4.8 million tons of cement for Ethiopia.
For this year the factories will be at 65 percent of capacity and will be able to make 1.3 million tons of cement by the end of the current fiscal year.
The government estimates that by July 7, 2012 the country’s cement potential supply will reach 12.61 million tons. The combined estimated production for 2011/12 including from the new factories shall be 6.64 million tons.
The actual demand for the cement, including the 216 thousand tons of cement needed for the Grand Renaissance Dam construction, is still expected to be 1.3 million tons higher than the production capacity.
Derba MIDROC cement’s main factory will begin operating in January 2012 and the National Cement Expansion projects located in Oromia and Dire Dawa that are expected to begin next May are the two largest projects.
C.H. Clinker manufacturing PLC, Ethio-Cement, Ture Dire Cement are the other new factories.
Jimma Cement factory is also being expanded. Derba MIDROC Cement will have other factories that it owns expanded as well; these are known as Dejen third and fourth phase projects and they are the smaller part of the Derba MIDROC cement corporation located in Amhara regional state.
In total the projects are expected to add a capacity of eight million tons of cement annually from the current about 4.63 million tons produced by the existing factories.
In total there are 37 facilities that produce cement in Ethiopia. Fourteen are from local investors, one is a joint venture between a local and foreign firm and the rest are foreign based investments. Out of the 37 cement projects 34 of them are new cement projects.
The Ethiopian government plans, by the end of the Growth and Transformation Plan in 2015, to increase the cement production to 27 million tons of cement annually to meet Ethiopia’s cement needs. This is happening at a time when the per capita cement consumption is increasing from the current 35Kg per person to 300Kg per person.
It also plans to make operational by 2015 four cement expansion projects and eight new cement factory projects.

Awash Bank Picks Design Champs for Trio of Branches

Winning designs for Hawassa (left), Balcha Aba Nefso (centre), and Bulbula (right), branches, were all selected as winners by jury members based on criteria that included urban context, site use, and representation of Awash


The first private bank to construct its own headquarters, Awash International Bank (AIB), selected three designs for branches to be located in Addis Abeba and Hawassa, Southern Regional State on Thursday, December 8, 2011.

During a ceremony at the Hilton Hotel, the winning designs for the branches to be constructed around Bole Bulbula, Balcha Aba Nefso, and Hawassa, 273km south of the capital, were selected out of 14 entries. A total of six companies took part in the competition.

Gereta Consult, MH Engineering, and Yohannes Abay Plc, competed for all three branch designs, while Zeleke Belay Plc and Age Plc each submitted designs for the Hawassa and Balcha Aba Nefso sites. Studio 7 Architects Plc limited itself to one, competing for the Bole Bulbula design only.

Participating for only one design may have helped Studio 7, as its design for the Bole Bulbula branch, near Kadisco Paint Factory in Nifas Silk Lafto District was selected. Zeleke Belay Plc was selected for the Balcha Aba Nefso branch, opposite from Lideta Cathedral Church in Lideta District, while MH Engineering was selected for the branch in the Arada area of Hawassa. They all received 50,000 Br awards.

Tuesday, 20 December 2011 16:59
Ethiopia injects US$4 billion into sugar factories .
By The Africa Report

..In its bid to become a major sugar exporter, Ethiopia is constructing 10 sugar factories following the injection of a US$4.6 billion investment.

Ethiopia wants to become one of the world's top 10 sugar exporters to the international market/Photo/Reuters
Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, while inaugurating the Fincha Amerti Neshe Hydropower project at the weekend, said construction of the 10 factories across the country was progressing well.

The multi-purpose Fincha project, with a capacity to generate 97 MW of electricity, will see the expansion of the Fincha sugar factory by 6000 hectares of land, a 40 percent increase.

"The sugar development project will bring about technology transfer thereby creating jobs," Zenawi said.

"The irrigation development as well as the design of the factories has a special place in the country's history as it is done by local professionals".

The development of the sugar factories is part of Ethiopia's five year Growth and Transformation Plan, which aims to undertake a multi billion investment on various development projects to reduce poverty, setting the pace for Ethiopia's quest to become a middle income country by 2025.

The sugar factories are currently being constructed in Beles in the central Amhara region, Wolkait in the northern Tigray area, Kesem in the north eastern Afar regional state and in the South Omo Zone of the Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples' region.

Meanwhile, the Ethiopian Sugar Corporation, the state-owned company, said the construction of the sugar factories will help Ethiopia become one of the world's top 10 sugar exporters to the international market.

The corporation said foreign investment is being sought to develop other projects on 5 million hectares of land that has been identified for sugar production.

According to available information, Ethiopia imported 150,000 metric tons of sugar last year.

The government aims to become a self-sufficient sugar producer by the end of 2013 and increase production eightfold to 2.3 million tons by mid 2015, creating a surplus of 1.25 million tons for export.

Speaking of economy, Eritrea is in a recession thanks to this cadre right here:



Couldn't transfer 15,000 British Pounds successfully.

Salini starts filling Gibe III Dam

Saturday, 24 December 2011 08:38

The Italian construction firm, Salini, last Saturday started filling the Gilgel Gibe dam.

Eng. Azeb Asnake, project manager of Gilgel Gibe III, told The Reporter that the contractor has finalised the basement work on the dam and started filling the dam with a special concrete called roller compacted concrete. “It is a dry mix concrete that is compacted by rollers. That is the kind of material we use to build the Gibe III dam,”Azeb said.
The dam, which will be 246 meter high and have a width of 600 meter, will consume six million cubic meter of concrete. The basement of the dam is, on average, 25 meter deep. It will have seven spillways and the water will flow to the power house from the dam through two tunnels each of which are 1.2-km-long. The power house is designed to house ten turbines.

The Gilbel Gibe III hydor power dam is being constructed 380 km south of Addis in the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples’ Regional State. It will have an installed capacity of 1870 MW.

Work on the project commenced in 2007 and the first unit was originally scheduled to launch power generation in September 2012. However, due to a change in the type of the dam this has been postponed to September 2013. First the dam was planned to be a rock-fill dam but was later changed into a roller compact dam.

The dam will have the capacity to hold 14-billion-cubic-meter of water. The artificial lake will cover 200 sq.km. Salini is undertaking the civil work while a Chinese firm, Dong Fan, is responsible for the electro-mechanical and hydro-mechanical work.

The total cost of the project is 1.5 billion euro. The Ethiopian government has so far invested 600 million euro from its own coffers. It has secured USD 470 million from a Chinese state owned bank.

Azeb said that work on the project is going on according to schedule adding that 90 percent of the construction of the tunnels has been finalised. The power house is also under construction. According to the project manager, the project has created jobs for more than 3000 Ethiopians. “Roads have been built, so have a high school and health posts. The local communities are benefiting from the hydro power project. The local people have been employed in the project. And the local communities sell fruits and vegetables to the large number of people working on the project.”

Azeb dismisses the accusations levelled by environmentalists against the project. “The local population has not been displaced due to the dam construction. The place where the dam is built has an elevation of 600 meter. It is a very hot place infested by malaria and people prefer to live on the mountains to this unfriendly environment. So no one has been relocated as a result of the dam’s construction. The reservoir, too, will not affect anyone,” Azeb said.

“All the necessary environmental impact assessment study was conducted and mitigation measures have been incorporated in the study. The dam will play an important role in regulating the water flow in the downstream areas. The downstream areas are hit by either a drought or flood every year. The Gibe III dam will enable us to regulate the erratic water flow. The project is already bringing benefits to the local communities who are destitute. But it is sad to hear baseless accusations forwarded by some groups against the project.”

Azeb said the negative campaign waged against the project did not affect the physical work on the project as the Ethiopian government has been availing the necessary fund for the project. “The government has shown a strong commitment in financing the project. We do not have any problem settling payments.”

The Red and Yellow Lines
If you got eagle eyes, you can read the station names. I have bigger size pictures but I couldn't upload them on imageshack. The red line starts from Menelik II square and ends at Kaliti. The yellow line stretches from Torhailoch to Ayat.Quote

PHASE I
1. Addis Ababa –Djibouti Railway Project

2. Mekele – Weldya/Hara Gebeya - Semera-Tadjourah Port Railway Project

3.Addis Ababa –Ijaji-Jimma-Dima Including Jimma - Bedele Railway Project

4. Awash- Kombolcha-Hara Gebeya Railway Project

5. Mojo-Shashemene-Arbaminich-Weyto Railway Project (after all there seems to be a line down the southern route in the first phase)


PHASE II
1. Jimma-Guraferda-Dima diorected to Boma

2. Ijaji-Nekemet-Assosa-Kumuruk

3.Mekele-Shire

4.Fenoteselam-Bahirdar-Wereta-Weldia

5.Wereta Azazo-Metema

6.Adama-Indeto-Gassera-Ginir

Addis Ababa Light Railway project starts

The Chinese company China Railway Eryuan Engineering Group Co. Ltd. (CREEC) has been awarded the 37.381Km Addis Ababa light rail transit project and has already started work.
The railway stretches mainly from Defence Forces Hospital to Ayat Village, which is 17.26Km, with other tracks that will lead from Meskel Square to Kality (16.246Km) and the 3.875Km rail line from Lideta to Menilik Square.
The Chinese Corporation has also started construction activities around Ayat Village.The Addis Ababa light rail transit project also designed by CREEC is expected to be financed 60 percent by the Chinese government and 40 percent from the coffers of the Ethiopian government.
The 37.381Km Addis Ababa light rail transit project is estimated to cost over USD 400 million and is scheduled to be completed in two years.
According to sources, the project could be delayed because part of it was originally planned to pass through Meskel Square, instead a new design is expected to be done, which takes the route behind the Addis Ababa Exhibition Centre. The reason for this is said that Meskel square will have its own project of 4.3Km Meskel Square-Bole Bridge project that is expected to cost USD 60 million. The over pass on Bole Road is going to be built by the China Road and Bridge Corporation and solely financed by the Export Import Bank of China.
The Ethiopian Railway Corporation has also signed with CREEC to construct the first lot of the 317Km Addis Ababa-Me’eso railway line.
The second lot of the 340Km Me’eso-Dire Dawa-Dawale electric railway project was awarded to another Chinese state owned enterprise China Civil Construction Corporation (CCECC) on December 16.
The Ethiopian government plans to construct more than 2,000Km of rail lines during the five year Growth and Transformation Plan program.