First twin-dam project to secure USD 700m

The latest hydroelectric power project on the menu of the Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPCo), Halele-Werabesa Hydropower plant, which has the generating capacity of 422MW, is set to attract USD 700 million in finance from the World Bank group. The power project, located some 70km from the town of Welkite, 153 km south-west of the capital, is the only power project in Ethiopia with twin-dams structure to date. According to the plan, the two dams are constructed in the Halele and Werabesa Rivers some 30 km apart. Although the feasibility study and other geological studies have been completed, the corporation has suspended the project in spite of unreserved interest from financiers. The corporation at the time (2 and 3 years back) had five power projects running and hence decided to hold it until the present, Miheret Debebe, CEO of EEPCo told The Reporter.

Energy experts of the bank have conducted a field visit on the project site and reviewed the feasibility study carefully before submitting an application to finance the twin-dam project. The project, which is expected to take a minimum of five years, is estimated to cost between USD 650 and 700 million. The estimated project cost also includes the budget for a 79km transamination line that carry the generated electric power. According to an estimate made by EEPCo, the power plant is expected to generate 2,300 GWH of energy annually.

According to the country-director, Guang Zen Chen, the bank has strong interest to fully finance the project and following subsequent discussions with EEPCo proposal for financing would be submitted to the bank’s governing body. If things go according to plan, the project would commence in 2013 by the latest and see start operations in 2018, Miheret says.

According to the CEO, Halele-Werabesa is attractive to financiers as it is one of the power stations that are very close to the load center (Addis Ababa and the surrounding). On the other hand, the construction of the dams is relatively easily attracting additional interest.

However, further amendments and revisions of the feasibility study are being conducted at the moment to fit the energy project requirements of the bank.
“Additional geological and other studies are under way at moment from our side. The aim is to bring up to speed the previously conducted studies and prepare for implementation,” Miheret explained.

And as soon as the finance is obtained, EEPCo is preparing to float the bid to award the construction work.

African Union Grand Hotel is taking shape.





SUITES & ROOMS
Deluxe rooms are featured with either twin or king size bed.
31 Ministerial Suites.
27 Presidential Suites, distinctly decorated & equipped with unparallel comfort & luxury.
All Rooms and Suites are equipped with digital safety box, jewelry line forms, modern jacks for personal computers, elegant desk and chair, infra-red keyboard, WIFI, hi-speed internet, interactive TV system with e-mail access, plasma screen, the most sophisticated phones, more than 50 satellite channels, video and music on demand, independent temperature control and orthopedic mattress.

RESTAURANTS & BAR
The restaurants offer African, American, Asian, Italian, Arabian and French cuisines, skillfully prepared by international chefs.
All day dining restaurant Italian specialty restaurant
Chinese specialty restaurant
Indoor & outdoor sky bar

GRAND CLUB
Designed for Presidential, Diplomats and Business Travelers, with a private check-in and check-out complimentary full breakfast and all day refreshments. Meeting rooms on every Grand Club.

MEETING ROOMS
8 medium size meeting rooms Equipped with the latest
state of the art technology, LCD, slide projector, overhead projector, full scale sound system, clipped/fixed or wireless microphone, internet facilities in every meeting area, ceiling electrical screen, stage lights, portable staging, flip chart, and plasma screen.
Translation Conference Hall
Video conferencing

MULTI PURPOSE BALLROOM
3,500 seating capacity for conference and shows
2,200 seating capacity for banquets
It could also be divided into 4 separate function venues. Accommodating 1,300 guest per venue.
Equipped with state of the art audio and visual equipments.
A simultaneous translation for up to 6 languages, complimented by the latest auto queue system.

SWIMMING POOL & SPA
346sq.m. swimming pool with bar
Fitness room equipped with fitness machines, sauna, & Jacuzzi pools
A wide range of treatments form the spa, professional slimming treatment, massage, facial, & body treatment.

PARKING
166 slots open area car parking
236 slots basement car parking
3 slots delivery truck parking
9 slots taxi parking

THE BUSINESS CENTER
WIFI internet
Full secretarial services
Translation Conference Hall
Courier services
Computer rentals
Stationary supplies
24 hr service

LONG LIVE ETHIOPIA

Addis Ababa light rail transit project reaches implementation


Addis Ababa, January 24, 2012 (WIC) - Various alternatives have been examined by the government to solve the transportation problem of Addis Ababa. Light city rail transit service is among the alternatives studied and now reached its first phase implementation stage.

Addis Ababa light rail transit project Manager with the Ethiopian Railway Corporation, Yehualashet Jemere has said the project has now reached construction stage after finalizing majority of the preparations needed.

The railway project stretches mainly from Defence Forces Hospital to Ayat Village, with other tracks that will lead from Meskel Square to Kality and another one from Lideta to Menilik Square through Merkato. It covers 134Km.

The Chinese Corporation, CREC, has started construction activities around Ayat Village and Meshualekia.

General Manager of the Ethiopian Railway Corporation, Engineer Getachew Betru for his part said the preparation work for the construction is being undertaken mainly by domestic contractors. He said it would contribute significantly in technology transfer.

The first phase of Addis Ababa light rail transit project is expected to be completed in 30 months. At completion, the rail transport service would commence with 41 rails with the capacity of transporting 286 persons each at a time. This makes it possible to transport 60,000 persons in an hour in four directions and is believed to solve the transportation problem of the city significantly.
According to ERTA, ransport Affairs Standing Committee with the House of People’s Representatives has visited the progress of the project. Chairperson of the Committee, Muferiat Kamil said though the project has been delayed for various reasons, it can achieve its objective with its current pace.

Ethiopia-Sudan power transmission line nears completion

Quote:
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia --- ESI-AFRICA.COM --- 17 January 2012 - The Ethiopia-Sudan power transmission line will be completed in the first quarter of this year, connecting Ethiopia to Sudan's power grids, according to the Ethiopia Electric and Power Corporation (EEPCO).

The ”Sudan Tribune” reports that the energy link will allow power trading between the two African neighbours.

Ethiopia plans to sell an initial 100MW of electricity to Sudan as an example of Ethiopia's capacity to export power. The Horn of Africa country has recently begun exporting 35MW of electricity a month to Djibouti, earning up to US$1.5 million every four weeks.The Ethiopia-Sudan transmission project will enable Khartoum to replace its thermal power generating units with Ethiopia's renewable and clean hydro-power generated energy.

The World Bank-funded, US$41 million, 230KV transmission line will be 296km long. It stretches between the Ethiopian towns of Bahir-Dar and Metema, and connects with a transmission line in the Sudanese border town of Gedaref.

read the rest @ ESIAfrica

Ethiopia Hopes to Launch Construction of Three New Dams
The combined electric power output of the three dams to surpass the Grand Renaissance Dam


Senior ministers at the Ministry of Water & Energy (MoWE) are planning to carryout feasibility studies on three additional hydropower plants to be built in the basin of the Abay (Blue Nile) River, whose combined power generation capacity is projected to be larger than the Grand Renaissance Dam, Fortune learnt.

The cost of the feasibility studies on the technical, environmental, and social impacts of the dams will be covered with a 20.1 million-dollar grant secured from the government of Norway.

Asfaw Dingamo, former minister of Water Resources, had signed the grant agreement with Tom Odegaard, in November 2009.

Hydroelectric power plants planned in Mendaia, Beko Abo, and Kara Dodi, will collectively have 300MW more power than the Grand Renaissance Dam’s 5,200MW, a capacity the dam is believed to have when the Italian Salini Construttori completes construction in the second quarter of 2017. It will be the largest hydropower plant on the continent, with 15 generating units, each producing 350MW of electric power, a capacity currently generated by Koka and Tekeze dams combined.

The Grand Renaissance Dam also symbolises the nation’s determination to build the largest dam ever with its own resources, according to Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.

“The other dams we plan to build are less challenging than this,” he had said during his address at the launching of the project in Guba, Benishangul Gumuz Regional State, on April 2, 2011.

Indeed, he was referring to hydropower projects on the drawing board such as Beko Abo (2,100MW), located two kilometres upstream of Nekemt Bridge; Mendaia (2,000MW), located seven kilometres upstream on the Abay River and Dedessa River confluence; and Kara Dodi (1,600MW), located 70km upstream from the Renaissance Bridge.

However, the actual generation capacity of each dam will have to be determined after the feasibility studies are complete.

“Their capacities might increase or otherwise,” a hydraulic expert at the Ministry told Fortune.

Mendaia and Beko Abo projects are expected to be roller compacted concrete (RCC) dams, with 200 metre and 285 metre heights, making the latter the highest of its type in the world, each having an annual energy output of over 12,000 GWh a year.

The prefeasibility studies on Mendaia and Bako Abo projects were conducted by a consortium of consultants from Norway (Norplan and Norconsult), France (Electricite de France), and England (Scott Wilson), as well as Shebelle Consult Plc and Tropics Consulting Engineers, both domestic firms.

The report for the studies was approved by the Ministry after reviewing reports from the consultants, following consultation with the Ethiopian Electric Power Cooperation (EEPCo) and other relevant stake holders, sources disclosed.

The prefeasibility study includes hydrology studies, topography surveys, and geotechnical foundation and environmental studies. Aside from hydropower generation, the projects also aim to be multipurpose, providing improvements in flood control and conservation.

“The Ministry approved the projects, confirming their economic and technical viability, as eligible for a final feasibility study,” a senior official at the Ministry told Fortune.

Studies on economic and social viability were carried out by foreign consultant: Halcrow and Generation Integrated Rural Development (GIRD). It was during these studies that a helicopter crashed in the Abay Gorge, after it collided with a cable en route from Gojam to Wellega; no harm was reported.

The aforementioned consortium has been given the job of conducting the feasibility studies. They are allowed to take about six months to complete them, according to the senior official at the Ministry.

“If all of the studies are finalised within the year, as planned, construction will start within the coming few years,” he disclosed to Fortune.

The cost of building all three dams is yet to be determined. Nonetheless, it may reach close to 75 billion Br, considering the 13 million Br average cost per megawatt that the five most recent dams, including the Grand Renaissance Dam, have consumed in the past or are projected to.

“By the time we secure financing for their construction, these projects will be ready to be carried out within the five-year transformation period,” said the senior official at the Ministry.

The Ministry is also commissioning economic feasibility studies on the Tekeze River, for its second dam, 903km north of Addis Abeba, and on the Dedessa River, in Benishangul Gumuz, 386km from the capital. The two projects will have an estimated capacity of producing 450MW and 301MW, respectively.

The successful construction of these dams will increase the nation’s hydroelectric power plants to 17.

Currently, EEPCo generates 2,000MW of power, while an additional 8,000MW is expected in the coming three years; of which 97MW has already been added after Fincha Amertinesh Dam, consuming 137.8 million dollars, was inaugurated last month.

ADDIS ABABA | Access Resort hotel (Old Imperial hotel upgrade) | Planning
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PTA Bank Nods Access Resorts Loan


The six million-dollar loan for renovation of the former Imperial Hotel also approved by central bank

The former Imperial Hotel has stood idle for the past year since its acquisition, awaiting financing for its planned renovation.

Access Resorts is hoping to secure a loan of six million dollars from the Common Market for Eastern & Southern Africa (COMESA) Bank, a.k.a. Preferential Trade Area (PTA) Bank, to pay for the renovation and upgrading of Imperial Hotel, Fortune learnt.

The loan request has already been approved by the PTA Bank, and won the blessing of the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE), sources disclosed to Fortune.

Access Resorts, run by Ermyas Amelga, acquired the property from the family of Asfaw Tefera, which built the hotel in the mid 1990s and ran it for over 15 years. The 63-room hotel, lying on a 3,411sqm plot in the eastern part of the city, consumed 23 million Br during construction over five years until completion.

One of the early privately owned hotels to emerge in the post-Dergue era, Imperial was sold to the resort company for an undisclosed sum, in December 2010. Industry sources estimated that the hotel could have been offered to Access Resorts for over 60 million Br, the largest transaction in the hospitality industry in the past two decades. Access has also acquired over 90pc share in Safari Hotel, a property in Adama (Nazareth) town, 99Km east of Addis Abeba, for 27 million Br.

The new company, with several subsidiaries in the property investment business and real estate development, wants to reduce the number of rooms to 45 and transform the three-star property into a resort establishment, under the brand Access Resorts Hotel (ARH).

ARH’s loan request was endorsed by the central bank which is mandated to approve loan requests from foreign banks.

It was approved because it proved that it will be able to pay back the loan in foreign exchange, Alemayehu Kebede, director of Change Management and Communications at the central bank said.

Experts in the hospitality industry are baffled by the decision that Access’s management made in naming the property a resort.

“The area is a busy commercial zone,” An expert who studied hotels and tourism in the United States and has 25 years of hands-on experience in the hospitality industry in Ethiopia and abroad, told Fortune. “I do not think that it is a feasible idea.”

Sisaye Teklu, coordinator at the Ministry of Culture & Tourism’s Hotel Service Quality Assurance Directorate, agrees.

“A resort hotel usually has to be located outside the city centre, with natural resource sights along with hotel facilities providing service to specifically targeted clients,” he told Fortune. “However, if facilities are available, the location should not restrict developers to name it as they please.”

The new developer plans to incorporate an in-house swimming pool, one of the major amenities the property lacked under its former owners.

Access also plans to offer for time-share sale luxury rooms to interested buyers who would like to share keys. The primary target for this brand new product is Ethiopians living abroad, who will have to pay 3,000 dollars, up front, for a single room, while the three-bedroom executive suit apartment may cost 12,000 dollars.

This is an idea that the expert believes is “smart.”

“Considering how competitive the hospitality industry has become and with the coming of international brands to town, I guess they have made a wise decision,” he said.

The facelift is projected to reach four million dollars. The estimate surfaced after experts brought from Lebanon surveyed the hotel, following is acquisition.

Nevertheless, the property has remained closed for the past year, ever since the original owners handed it over to the developer. This was due to the long process of identifying and securing bank loans from foreign sources, according to industry observers.

Access Resorts has won the nod from PTA Bank, a sub-regional financial institution to soon be guided by Admassu Yilma, an Ethiopian national who was appointed to the position three weeks ago. Admassu is expected to take over the chief executive officer position by April 2012.

Headquartered in Bujumbura, Burundi, PTA was established in 1985 by 20 shareholding countries, including Ethiopia, which owns 12.3pc of shares in the Bank.

PTA Bank disbursed loans totalling 243 million dollars in 2010. Only nine per cent of this was disbursed to finance projects in the hotel industry.

Ethiopian Airlines was the only Ethiopian company that secured a (20 million dollar) payment facility from PTA Bank, in its bid to finance its purchase of Boeing 777s. This loan represented less than five per cent of the total loans and advances of the same year, while the largest portfolio (over 15pc) of any country went to companies in Kenya.

Zefmesh to open a mega mall complex


Quote:
Zefmesh Private Limited Company is set to open the grandest mall complex in Ethiopia; lying on nine thousand square meters with seven floors to accommodate entertainment and refreshment ranging from supermarkets to cinema houses.

Nega Asfaha Project Management Consultant for Zefmesh Grand mall project said the actual building lies on four thousand square meters of land and be open in six months. The ground floors are expected to accommodate small to medium sized shops. Kaldi’s café will be there and there will be parking space for 450 cars. Three hundred fifty will be open air parking spaces and 100 in the basement.

The building will have many entrances with a capacity of up to one thousand visitors at once together with an expansive lobby and three panoramic elevators two of whom can hold 14 people at once each and the other one can hold 24 people at once which he claimed was second only to the US embassy elevators. It has also eight escalators and stairways for pedestrians. The elevator technology is from the famous US firm Otis. Another point Nega emphasized was that the building from ground floor up to the third floor is expected to have 300 assorted shops capacity with so far he claimed a thousand interested parties applying for it.

The basement supermarket which will lie on 3200sqm Shoa supermarket plans to open one of the biggest stores in Ethiopia there.
Modern movie theaters will be on the fourth floor with the newest international films. Three cinema houses will be able to hold around 1200 people and have VIP seating. It’s also expected to have special handicap ramp access and a spacious snack area. The largest cinema house will have a backstage for live performances. Handicapped parking will also be available.
One rather unique feature Nega said will be a smoker’s area on the terraces of the building in order to respect the rights of smokers without disturbing the health of non-smokers.

However he reiterated that the project has also rooms for traditional and art centers housing bookstores, sculptures and traditional clothes to be placed exclusively in the fifth floor while the sixth floor is expected to house a family entertainment center equipped with an Arcade and Game room and an exclusive kid’s platform.

Not to be outdone in innovation the sixth floor will have a lobby for mother and nannies to breastfeed and change the diapers of babies while the seventh and last floor will have a food court complete with spectacular views of Addis on four sides and a tropical garden in between it. Nega elaborated that the building place located in Megenegna area in Yeka district was chosen because of its strategic commercial and residential district.