Chinese company to develop multi-million-USD industrial park in Ethiopia

ADDIS ABABA, April 13 (Xinhua) -- China's Sinoma International Engineering Co., Ltd. has signed a cooperation agreement with the Ethiopia-China joint venture, National West International Holding (WIH) Building Materials Holding Company, to undertake a 600-million-U.S. dollar industrial park development project in eastern Ethiopia.

Under the agreement signed on Tuesday, Sinoma will handle the engineering, procurement, and construction work for the Melka-Jebdu Industrial Park Development Project consisting of cement and metals factories as well as a lime production plant in the city of Dire Dawa, some 452 kilometers east of Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital.

The construction of a cement factory is an extension of the National WIH Building Materials Holding Company's investment in cement production in Ethiopia with the first factory in Lemi Town in North Shewa Zone of Amhara Region.

"Upon completion, the Melka-Jebdu Industrial Park will be able to produce 6,000 tons of cement and another 1,000 tons of lime per day as well as 700,000 tons of metals per year," Buzuayehu Tadele, chairman of National WIH Building Materials Holding Company, said ahead of signing the agreement.

The industrial park will be located in close proximity to ports of Djibouti, and that will provide the company with a strategic location to easily access international trade routes and export products, said Tadele.

Speaking on the occasion, Ethiopian Minister of Urban and Infrastructure Chaltu Sani lauded the National WIH Building Materials Holding Company for launching such a huge project in Ethiopia which is battling with a shortage of cement and other construction inputs.

Noting that the industrial park project was launched at a critical time when there are construction booms across the country, Sani said the project will be promoting the image of Ethiopia through its products besides serving as a platform to transfer expertise to Ethiopian professionals.

Ethiopian Minister of Planning and Development Fitsum Assefa Adela told Xinhua that Chinese investors are engaging in the most crucial economic sectors in Ethiopia and helping the nation prosper besides promoting win-win cooperation.

"The Chinese investors are unique in that they come with a fund to be paid on the long-term and concessional basis, and that relieves the financial burdens Ethiopia faces to undertake critical projects," she said.