Tana Beles Sugar Factory, one of the 13 state-owned sugar production facilities, has begun pilot production. The factory, located in Awwi Zone, Amhara Regional State, has the capacity of producing three million quintals of sugar annually. Almost a decade go, the then Metals & Engineering Corporation (MetEC) was awarded the contract for the construction of the factory at a cost of 235 million dollars. The Corporation was expected to complete the work in less than two years but failed to do so and its contract was finally terminated in 2018. China CAMC Engineering Co Ltd (CAMCE) then took over the construction. The factory sources its sugar cane from 13,000ha of land in the area irrigated with water from Beles River. Tana Beles is also among the 10 factories under the Sugar Corporation set to be privatised.