Olympic Committee Steps into Water Bottling Business

The Ethiopian Olympic Committee is stepping into a profit-making business by constructing a water bottling and juice processing plant at Chacha, Amhara Regional State.

The Committee is investing 97 million Br for the plant that is located in North Shewa Zone, Angolalla Tera Woreda, which is located 100Km from Addis Abeba. The Committee secured five hectares of land on a 60-year lease agreement for 10 million Br. It paid one million Birr as a down payment, and the remaining will be paid over the coming 40 years.

Initially planning to set up the plant in Dima Woreda of the Oromia Regional State, the Committee switched the plan to Amhara Regional State due to a late response from the former regional state, according to Tibebu Gorfu, assistant project coordinator of the plant.

For the people who will be relocating from the land for the project, the Committee has paid 2.8 million Br through Amhara Credit & Saving Institution.

Amhara Waterworks Construction Enterprise has already finished the water drilling process within a month before the Committee imported machines and hired employees to construct the plant. The plant, dubbed the Ethiopia Olympic Committee Bottled Water & Juice Factory, will be the 86th water bottling plant when it becomes operational next year.

While the Olympic committee will cover 30pc of the cost, the balance is expected to be covered by the Ethiopian government and some sports partners from abroad, according to Tibebu.

“Finding the right partners on time is the challenge that we anticipate facing,” he said.

The Committee sources income from renting buildings, membership fees, and promotions, as well as the Adidas Company and the government. The Committee and Adidas have an agreement for promotions.