Ethiopia and China are set to
partner to build a new, 300 million U.S. dollar industrial park in the east
African country.
Liu Yu, economic and commercial counsellor at the
Chinese Embassy in Ethiopia, recently said that construction of the park,
located in Adama city, 99 km southeast of Addis Ababa, could start before the
end of 2019.
Liu said 85% of the funding needed to build the
industrial park will be covered through Chinese government concessional loans
while the rest 15% will come from the Ethiopian government.
“The planned industrial park will focus on
attracting firms engaged in equipment manufacturing,” Liu said, noting
that work is being done to conclude land acquisition and financing-related
procedures.
It will be the second industrial park in Adama
city, a key commercial hub in central Ethiopia, with Chinese finance and
expertise.
“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,” Liu told Xinhua.
The first Adama industrial park, which was built by
China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) at a cost of $146
million, was inaugurated by Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in October
2018.
Covering 100 hectares of land, the industrial park is expected to create job opportunities for around 25,000 Ethiopians and is part of Ethiopia’s grand plan to transform its largely agrarian economy into an industrialized one by 2025. http://www.china.org.cn/business/2019-08/13/content_75094416.htm
