Two industrial parks in Amhara Regional State built for close to two billion Birr are expected to become operational in two months.
Bahir Dar and Debre Berhan industrial parks, each with eight sheds under construction since 2016, lie on 2,000ha and 1,000ha, respectively. The parks were planned and designed to accommodate companies engaged in textile, apparel and agro-processing industrial activities.
Located 557Km from the capital, Bahir Dar Industrial Park, with an estimated cost of a little over 900 million Br, is being built by China Civil Engineering Construction Company (CCECC), a company established in 1979 that engages in railway, highway, bridge and municipal projects.
The project is overseen and supervised by MH Engineering Plc, a company established in 1997 that is also currently supervising the construction of Addis Abeba National Stadium and consulted on Bole Lemi Industrial Park.
The Debre Berhan Industrial Park, costing more than one billion Br, is being built by another Chinese firm, China Communications Construction Company (CCCC), a 14-year-old company that has been engaged in the construction of roads, railways, industrial parks and the headquarters of United Bank in Ethiopia. MH Engineering Plc also consults on the project.
The Bahir Dar Industrial Park was financed directly by the Ethiopian Government, while the Debre Berhan Industrial Park was funded by selling one billion dollars in Eurobonds in 2014.
When fully operational, Bahir Dar and Debre Berhan industrial parks will create 8,000 and 7,000 jobs opportunities, respectively, according to Tilahun Gemechu, director of corporate planning and management information systems at the Industrial Parks Development Corporation.
The production capacity of the two industrial parks will depend on the investors who take over the sheds. An estimate as to how many companies the two parks will accommodate is also unknown, according to Tilahun.
“From our experience in Hawassa Industrial Park, one investor can take up to seven sheds," he added.
The Corporation is responsible for the construction of all 11 industrial parks in the country that have an estimated cost of 30 billion Br. Seven parks have been completed, and five have begun operations, including Hawassa, Bole Lemi I, Kombolcha, Meqelle and Adama. Five of the operational parks have generated 85 million dollars from exports in the last fiscal year.
The Amhara Regional State will give support to the companies that will be residing in the industrial parks, according to Yehenew Alem, public relations director of Amhara Regional State Industry & Investment Bureau.
Ali Yibrie (PhD), a lecturer at Bahir Dar University's College of Business & Economics, applauds the completion of the two industrial parks and believes that they will help investors to engage at any time without any challenges.
But he suggested that aside from constructing industrial parks, the government should work on attracting and bringing strong investors.
"Electric power and water supply, bureaucratic bottlenecks, political uncertainty and access to finance should be addressed," Ali said. "These are frustrating investors coming to the country."
PUBLISHED ON
Feb 16,2019 [ VOL
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981]
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