Ethiopia is set to partner with China to construct a new industrial park in the east African country at a cost of US $300m. Liu Yu, Economic and commercial Counsellor at the Chinese embassy in Ethiopia announced the reports and said that the planned industrial park will focus on attracting firms engaged in equipment manufacturing and noted that work is being done to conclude land acquisition and financing-related procedures.
The new industrial park
The industrial park will be located in Adama city 99km south-east of Addis Ababa , and a key commercial hub in central Ethiopia. 85% of the funding needed to build the industrial park will be covered through Chinese government concessional loans, while 15% will come from the Ethiopian government.
The project which is part of Ethiopia’s grand plan to transform its largely agrarian economy into an industrialized one by 2025, will cover 100 hectares of land, and is expected to to create job opportunities for around 25 000 Ethiopians. Construction is expected to start before the end of 2019.
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The development will be the second industrial park in Adama city with Chinese financing and expertise. The first Adama industrial park, which was built by China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) at a cost of US $146m, was inaugurated by Ethiopian prime minister Abiy Ahmed in October 2018.
“The governments of China and Ethiopia have attached great importance to their cooperation in various fields including in construction of industrial parks, whereby they have achieved fruitful results. These industrial parks will contribute better if capital (both local and foreign currency) is available for investors,” said Liu.
