Digata Industries Inc handed over the one-million-dollar National Soil Test Center, which has been in dispute for the past four years. It also received a payment of 270,000 dollars.

The company, which conducted the feasibility study and prepared a proposal for the centre, handed over the centre three weeks ago and received all outstanding payments from UNDP two weeks ago.

UNDP made the payment after consulting with the relevant government office, according to Martha Mogus, communications director at UNDP.

"The project is now considered finalised, and payment has been made accordingly," Martha responds to Fortune via email.

Kicked off in 2014, the establishment of the test centre came on the scene as a response to Japan's prohibition on importing Ethiopian coffee a decade ago, claiming the beans were contaminated with toxic chemicals. Following Japan’s action, the country invested a huge chunk of forex to test soils abroad.

Four years ago, a tripartite agreement was signed to launch the project awarding Digata a turnkey contract to handle the project with financing from UNDP under the ownership and management of the Agriculture Ministry.

Girma Silasie, founder and manager of Digata Industries, signed the agreement with Sileshi Getahun, former state minister of Agriculture & Natural Resources and Samuel Bwalya, former UNDP resident representative. The fund agreement was signed without a waiver from the Finance Ministry or following proper bidding processes.

Even though it was started four years ago, the project was not stalled and remained undelivered to the Agriculture Ministry. The centre planned to perform soil analysis work and provide fertiliser advisory services to farmers. It incorporated water and plant tests, according to the initial project proposal submitted by Digata.

The delay was blamed on plan modifications, late settlements of payments and cost overruns that exceeded the original budget. Some imported laboratory equipment was also stuck at the port due to delayed payments of demurrage fees that were finally settled by Digata.

The periodic internal audits on UNDP’s operations and programmes at the country level was another cause for the delays. The UNDP also conducted a technical assessment of the project to validate the status and the cause of the cost overruns. The assessment acknowledged Digata had delivered relevant equipment and made good progress on the construction, according to UNDP.