Author: enkelfam

If this is true, it will sure be one of the most talked about and controversial stories of the year in Ethiopia.

January 20, 2010 — The Ministry of Education has approved a new proposal that adds an extra year at university for undergraduate students, reports Capital.

Sources told Capital that the new system will be implemented in all governmental higher education centres from the start of the next Ethiopian fiscal year in July.

The new higher education structure has been implemented as a pilot project in the School of Engineering at Adama University (AU) since October 2008. According to the new system, engineering students will learn general engineering for three years and they will then specialise in different engineering fields for another two years.

According to sources AU has proposed the new transformation – which is based on best practices mostly from Europe – for higher education to keep up to international standards. Professor Dr. Herbert Eichele, president of AU, told Capital that in the next academic year, AU will introduce the new system in its other departments.

According to sources, the ministry accepted the new proposal for nationwide implementation after it evaluated the performance of the AU model.

Adama University (AU) sure has the best academic website in Ethiopia, IMO.
http://www.adama-university.net/
http://www.ezega.com/News/NewsDetail…ds&NewsID=1969

– 1 ሺህ ሄክታር መሬት ከሊዝ ክፍያ ነፃ እንዲሰጥ ተጠየቀ
– የኦሮሚያ ኢንቨስትመንት ኮሚሽን በካሬ ሜትር 7 ብር አቅርቧል

በጋዜጣው ሪፖርተር

አክ ጉን ኢንሳት የተባለው የቱርክ ኩባንያ በለገጣፎ እገነባለሁ ላለው የቱርክ ኢንዱስትሪ ዞን የሚሰጠውን አንድ ሺህ ሄክታር መሬት ከሊዝ ክፍያ ነፃ እንዲደረግለት ጠየቀ፡፡

የኦሮሚያ ክልል ኢንቨስትመንት ኮሚሽን በካሬ ሜትር 7 ብር እንዲከፍሉ ጠይቋል፡፡

ኩባንያው ጥያቄውን ያቀረበው ለፌዴራልና ለክልሉ መንግሥታት በላከው የኮንትራት ስምምነት ውል ረቂቅ ሰነድ ላይ ሲሆን ረቂቁ ከፌዴራል የንግድና ኢንዱስትሪ ሚኒስቴርና ከኦሮሚያ ኢንቨስትመንት ኮሚሽን በተውጣጡ ባለሙያዎች ተገምግሞ አስተያየት እንደተሰጠበት የኦሮሚያ ኢንቨስትመንት ቦርድ የይግባኝ ጉዳዮች ሥራ ፈፃሚ የሆኑት አቶ አብዱልሀኪም ሙክታር ለሪፖርተር ተናግረዋል፡፡

እንደ አቶ ሙክታር ገለፃ አክ ጉን ኢንሳት የተባለው ኩባንያ ለፌዴራል መንግሥትና ለኦሮሚያ ክልላዊ መንግሥት ኢንቨስትመንት ኮሚሽን ያቀረባቸው ጥያቄዎች የተለያዩ ናቸው፡፡

ለሁለት ተከታታይ ዓመታት የመሬት ኪራይ ነፃ እንዲደረግለትና ለፕሮጀክቱ የተጠየቀው መሬት ከሊዝ ክፍያ ነፃ እንዲሰጠው የሚጠይቀው የውል ኮንትራት ረቂቅ ለኦሮሚያ ክልል የቀረበ ሲሆን ለፌዴራል መንግሥት የቀረበው ጥያቄ ደግሞ የታክስ አከፋፈል፣ የጉምሩክ ጉዳዮች፣ የደህንነት ዋስትናና ለመሠረተ ልማት ግንባታ ከሚያስፈልገው ወጪ 30 በመቶ ያክሉ በመንግሥት እንዲሸፈን የሚጠይቅ እንደሆነ ለማወቅ ተችሏል፡፡ በዚህ መሠረት ለመሠረተ ልማት ግንባታ ከሚወጣው አጠቃላይ ወጪ 205,340,000 ዶላር ውስጥ መንግሥት 61 ሚሊዮን 602 ሺህ ዶላር የሚሆነውን ወጪ እንዲሸፍን በረቂቅ ሰነዱ ተጠቁሟል፡፡

ከንግድና ኢንዱስትሪ አንድ የህግ ባለሙያና ኤክስፐርት፣ ከኦሮሚያ ኢንቨስትመንት ኮሚሽን ሁለት የሕግ ባለሙያዎች ሰነዱን መርምረው የፌዴራልና የክልሉን መንግሥት ሕግ መሠረት ባደረገ መልኩ ማስተካከያ ተደርጐበት ለኦሮሚያ ክልል ፕሬዚዳንት አባዱላ ገመዳና ለፌዴራል የንግድና ኢንዲስትሪ ሚኒስትር ግርማ ብሩ መቅረቡን አቶ አብዱልሀኪም አስታውቀዋል፡፡

በኦሮሚያ ክልል በኩል ከኩባንያው ለቀረበው የሊዝ ነፃ ጥያቄ ተቀባይነት ሳያገኝ በካሬ ሜትር 7 ብር ወይም 0.54 ሣንቲም በዶላር እንዲከፍሉ በረቂቅ የኮንትራት ውሉ ላይ መገለፁን የጠቆሙት አቶ አብዱልሀኪም "እየተደረገ ያለው የድርድር ሂደት በመሆኑ ማስተካከያ የተደረገበት ረቂቅ ሰነድ ወደ ቱርክ ተልኮ ምላሽ ከተሰጠበት በኋላ ወደ ውል ስምምነቱ እናመራለን" በማለት ተናግረዋል፡፡

የቱርክ ኢንዱስትሪያል ዞን ፕሮጀክት 890 ሚሊዮን ዶላር የሚፈጅ ሲሆን ባለፈው ዓመት የውጭ ጉዳይ ሚኒስትር ስዩም መስፍንን ጨምሮ ከፍተኛ የፌዴራልና የክልሉ ባለሥልጣናት እንዲሁም ፕሬዚዳንቱ አባዱላ በተገኙበት ከኩባንያው ባለሀብቶች ጋር በሂልተን ሆቴል ስምምነት ማድረጋቸው ይታወሳል፡፡-

I am glad these businesses are coming, but the deals seem to be just giving shit away for free. We need good negotiators in these meetings, because it sounds like we are giving too much in these deals. Oh well, here we come globalization.

http://www.ethiopianreporter.com/ind…-10&Itemid=617

Five Ethiopian tactical helicopters arrive in Darfur next February

January 18, 2009 (KHARTOUM) – Five tactical helicopters will arrive in Darfur next month to join the African Union – United Nations peacekeeping force in the restive region, the hybrid operation said.

The UNAMID force needs 24 helicopters including 18 transport and six tactical helicopters to operate effectively across the Darfur region and to move the supplies and equipment necessary to carry out its mandate.

The main body of the Ethiopian Tactical Helicopter Unit "will arrive in Nyala, South Darfur on 22 January, while five of its helicopters are scheduled to join UNAMID’s peacekeeping force in mid-February," the Mission said.

"These much-awaited helicopters will significantly enhance UNAMID’s capabilities to stabilize the security situation in Darfur," it further stressed.

UN officials had received offers of helicopters from Bangladesh and Ethiopia. However they declined the Bangladeshi kit because it would not meet the UN requirements.

The Bangladeshi offer included inadequate range and inability to fly at night.

Rights groups published reports indicating that USA, Germany, France, United Kingdom, Canada, Italy, South Africa, Russia, Switzerland, Netherlands and Egypt among others have appropriate helicopters that they can make available for UNAMID.

UN Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Alain Le Roy, during a visit to New Delhi last October said the Indian government is studying a demand to provide helicopters to Darfur mission.

"India has not yet committed the helicopters we requested for Sudan. They are, however, considering it," he said.

According to international experts, conflict in Darfur has cost the lives of an estimated 300,000 people but Khartoum puts this figure far lower. It has also forced over 2.7 million to displace.
http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article33825

PS: Look at the picture, they cited this website:)

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) has been signed by four foreign companies and the Ethiopian Railway Corporation for the launching of a study on the planned construction of a new railway line up to the border of Djibouti, at a projected cost of 1.5 billion dollars.

The companies, China Communication Construction Company (CCCC), China Railway Group, Overseas Investment Alliance (OIA) from India, and a Russian company, are said to be undertaking their own individual studies on the project to make their decisions, according to Hailemariam Desalegn, government whip at Parliament and director of the board of the corporation, told Fortune.

The company that will get the project will be the one that comes with the financing, Hailemariam said.

The technical and financial efficiency of the winning company will be evaluated by its engineering procurement contract (EPC).

The government intends for the construction to begin before the end of this fiscal year early July, a high-level government official told Fortune. …. I would have to see to believe this, but it sounds like it might happen.🙂

The two Chinese companies are sister companies, and CCCC has already concluded a deal with the Ethiopian Roads Authority for the construction of the Addis Abeba-Adama road. This company acquired the 349 million dollar financing for the construction from China Exim Bank.

OIA has a history of supplying machinery to the Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPCo). It is also undertaking the construction of Tendaho Sugar Factory with a 350 million dollar loan provided by the Indian Government.

The Indian company did not seem as keen as the Chinese company to get the project, averred the government official who spoke to Fortune on the condition of anonymity, meaning that the project may eventually go to the Chinese due to the Indian company’s lack of enthusiasm.

The government chose to build a new railroad instead of upgrading the old one, because the old one allowed speeds of only 20km per hour, while the new one would enable up to 50km per hour, Hailemariam said.

“The fate of the old one is not yet known,” Hailemariam said.

There is currently no railway transport between Addis Abeba and Dire Dawa, and only very occasionally between Dire Dawa and Djibouti.

The Ethiopian Railway Corporation was established by the government in 2007 with a capital of three billion Birr. The corporation’s board members include Hailemariam and Arkebe Oqubay, state minister for Works and Capacity Building. The general manager, Getachew Betru, was not available for comment.

The Addis Abeba-Djibouti railway is part of the government’s plan to lay down 5,000km of tracks along seven different routes of economic importance. The next phase will ensue with another track linking Ethiopia to Kenya, according to the same official.

Maintenance of the old of track was initiated at a cost of 50 million dollars, but it was interrupted for quality reasons. … 😆 What? you just wasted $50million, Jessss.

By WUDINEH ZENEBE
SPECIAL TO FORTUNE

http://www.addisfortune.com/Gov%E2%80%99t%20Signs%20$1.5b%20New%20Railway%20Study%20MoU.htm

1/18/2010 11:29:00 AM

Ethiopian Airlines is working to strengthen its presence in Europe and is now focusing on the German market. Therefore AVIAREPS and Africa’s largest airline recently signed a new GSA agreement starting on 1 April 2010. The world’s leading aviation and tourism management expert will then be in charge of all sales, marketing and ticketing activities in Germany. Besides the European markets of Austria, Belgium, Switzerland and Hungary AVIAREPS also represents the Ethiopian flag carrier in the South American markets of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela. Ethiopian Airlines currently offers four weekly flights between Frankfurt (Germany) and Addis Ababa (Ethiopia): each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, passengers can use a nonstop connection to the Ethiopian capital. On Sunday the airline provides an additional flight with a short stopover in Rome. As from June 2010 Ethiopian Airlines will increase the frequency to five weekly flights on this route. All flights, operated with a modern Boeing B767, take off in the late evening. After an overnight journey of seven hours travellers reach Addis Ababa in the morning of the next day. From Ethiopian Airlines’ hub they can conveniently connect to various African destinations such as Johannesburg, Nairobi, Mombasa, Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar. As Africa’s leading carrier Ethiopian Airlines operates its flights with the newest and youngest fleet consisting of 30 Boeing aircraft (10 B767-300s; 8 B757-200s; 2 B575-260Fs; 2 B747Fs; 5 B737-700NGs; 3 B737-800Ws), 2 MD-11Fs and 5 Fokker 50s. Within the next years the fleet will continue growing. The airline has already ordered five Boeing B777-300LRs, eight Bombardier Q400s (delivery in 2010), 12 Airbus A330-900s and 10 Boeing B787 Dreamliner jets. Ethiopian Airlines, the largest airline in Africa, was founded 1945. The national carrier is based in Addis Ababa and offers flights to 56 international destinations: six in Europe (Brussels, Frankfurt, London, Paris, Rome and Stockholm), 35 in Africa, 14 destinations in the Middle East and Asia (e.g. Bahrain, Bangkok, Beijing, Beirut, Dubai, Mumbai, Delhi and Tel Aviv) and one in North America (Washington). Furthermore the Ethiopian flag carrier serves 16 domestic routes

http://www.traveldaily.co.uk/AsiaPac…?Section=16987

On a separate note, I think we should have a sticky thread for Aviation under projects/construction. What do you guys think?

Volvo Trucks has signed an agreement to deliver trucks to Derba Cement in Ethiopia.The customer is aiming to buy approximately 1000 trucks and an order has been placed for 550 trucks to be delivered during 2010.
"This is a major order that besides trucks, includes supplying transport competence development and building a service organisation and a spare parts supply system", says Stefan Tilk Area Director North Africa & Middle East.

There is a shortage of cement in Ethiopia and Derba Cement is in the process of increasing its production capacity and a new production facility is planned to be completed late 2010.

January 15, 2010

For a soon to become cement factory that is a lot of trucks.

http://www.volvo.com/trucks/global/e…htm?pubId=8166

APA-Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) Ethiopia became the first African country on Friday to launch the first automobile expected to be in use soon.

The biogas automobile was launched by Holland Car Assembling Factory of Ethiopia, a joint venture by Ethiopian and Chinese investors.

Ethiopia now becomes the first African country to launch such technology, which is environmental friendly.

The automobile-Sheger biogas production plant set up at a cost of $7 million manufactured the automobile.

“The plant will produce 500,000 liter biogas a year in its first production phase,” said the factory located some 65 kilometers east of Addis Ababa.

The company, established in 2005, so far has sold 900 various automobiles and has launched activities to sell 500 more.

The biogas plant reported to create jobs for 300 people, according to reports by Ethiopian radio.

DT/jk/APA

This is a very good start. If their product is good, we might see an expansion pretty soon.:cheers:

http://www.apanews.net/apa.php?page=…article=115749

By Barry Malone

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) – Ethiopian Airlines hopes to boost profits this year by taking advantage of growing ties between Africa and China and India, adding new routes to the Asian powers, Chief Executive Girma Wake said on Thursday.

China and India have displaced many western countries as the major investors in Africa, where they have invested billions of dollars in recent years.

"Because we are also flying to more destinations in Africa than any other airline, we can connect a lot of African traffic to China and India," Girma told Reuters in Addis Ababa.

"We are seeing a significant increase in our traffic to China and India and we are planning to launch more flights to different cities in both countries."

Ethiopian Airlines operates 14 flights a week to Beijing and Guangzhou and 12 flights a week to New Delhi and Mumbai. Girma said the airline was planning to add flights to Shanghai in China and Chennai and Bangalore in India.

The state-owned carrier flies to 35 African destinations and has remained profitable despite a downturn in the aviation industry.

Its full-year net profit more than doubled to 1.3 billion birr in 2008/09 due to an aggressive international marketing campaign and a cost-cutting drive.

"If fuel prices do not go up, we can expect about $150 million net in 2009/10," Girma said. "If fuel goes up, we think we’ll stick at about $128 million."

Ethiopian Airlines is one of a trio of African carriers along with South African Airways and Kenya Airways, spearheading change in Africa’s fast-growing airline industry with more modern planes.

"The major engine of our growth will always be Africa," Girma said. "And China and India are now important destinations because of the interest that a lot of Africa has in these countries. But we will expand in Africa, too."

Air travel is more expensive in Africa than in other parts of the world and some Africans say they are priced out of travelling around the continent.

Girma said that open-skies policies operating in many African countries would bring in more airlines and ultimately reduce costs.

Ethiopian will begin to add four new African routes a year.

"We will expand until we are operating to every major Africa city,"Girma said. "We can be operating to every major sub Saharan Africa destination within 2 to 3 years. And probably every North African destination within 7 or 8 years."

Girma said the airline planned to exploit China and India’s burgeoning middle classes by marketing Ethiopia as a tourist destination and building a hotel.

Just under 400,000 holidaymakers visited the Horn of Africa nation in 2008, and the tourism ministry expects that to increase to half a million this year. :ohno: The government target is to attract one million foreign visitors within five years. …. Still way too small for a large historic country like ours. There needs to be a more aggressive approach to their marketing style.

http://nazret.com/blog/index.php?tit…&c=1&tb=1&pb=1

APA-Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) Ethiopia and China agreed on Tuesday to increase their trade volume to $ 3 billion in the next six years.

The two countries agreed to strengthen their volume of trade as part of a new Chinese initiative to boost their cooperation.

Accordingly, the two sides agreed to double the volume of trade exchange to three $3 billion by 2015.

It has been reported that Chinese Foreign Direct Investment to Ethiopia has reached $1.5 billion.

Ethiopia and China have also signed an agreement enabling China to offer preferential market access to Ethiopian exports to China.

The Ethiopian Trade and Industry Minister, Girma Birru and the visiting Chinese Commerce Minister, Chen Deming signed the agreement.

According to the agreement, the new agreement covers more than 95 per cent of Ethiopia’s export to China, which is expected to increase the two countries’ volume of trade.

“Trade exchange between the two countries has been growing by 35.6 per cent annually on average in particular over the past eight years,” said Birru.

He also indicated that some 1000 Chinese projects have been registered to invest in Ethiopia.

DT/daj/APA
2010-01-13

By Hayal Alemayehu

The Addis Ababa City Administration will today inaugurate the biggest condominium site built in the city in the presence of ministers, high-ranking government officials and Ambassadors, it was learnt.

The site, named Jemo Condominium Site, is a cluster of 10, 064 condominium houses expected to accommodate over 50,000 dwellers, the size of a population that outnumber many towns in the country, according to the city officials.

Unlike the other condominium sites under construction in various parts of the city and its peripheries, the Jemo site project has a sewerage system stretching 29km around the site, with a 9km passage linking the system to the city’s main sewerage line.

The site has a 6.1km asphalt while there are 52 communal facilities which will serve the dwellers for various functions including abattoirs and laundry.

The Jemo site is built in Lideta and Gulelle subcities.

The aerial shots of the event will be taken and transmitted live on the national TV on the day of the inauguration.

The ceremony will be celebrated at the national level.

The city administration is expected to hand over the condominiums within one year of the inauguration.

A foundation stone was laid to construct a hospital in Sayint Woreda, South Wollo Zone of Amhara State at a cost of over 150 million Birr. Regional council deputy speaker, Abebe Arega and also zonal chief, Seyoum Mekonnen laid the foundation stone for the hospital to be constructed in Ajbar Town in the region.
Abebe on the occasion said activities are launched to construct 30 hospitals during the coming five years.
Seyoum on his part said the government has given prime attention towards enabling the public benefit from ongoing development activities.
Woreda Chief, Ejjigu Melake also said the hospital will give service to more than 230,000 people. (The Ethiopian Herald)

I hope they go through it and finish it quick, we have acute shortages of health facilities and professionals. :cheers:

By Kaleyesus Bekele

The new pan African airline, ASKy Airline, is set to start operation on January 15.

The multinational private airline was established by West African investors. The airline is based in Lome, Togo. The Ethiopian Airlines has bought a 25 percent stake on ASKY and signed a five-year management contract with the board of directors of ASKY. Bussera Awel, who was vice-president for commercial operations at Ethiopian, was appointed chief executive officer of ASKY last October.

The board recently held a meeting under the chairmanship of Mr. Gervais Koffi Djondo, chairman of the board of directors. During that session, ASKY directors examined the code of ethics and corporate governance policy document as well as the shareholders’ agreement. The directors expressed their satisfaction with the progress report on the action plan leading to the start of operations. The board congratulated Bussera Awel, CEO of the airline and his team for the volume of work done.

The board also expressed satisfaction at new subscriptions to increase the capital of ASKY, as registered in various countries of the sub-region.

After an overall assessment of the situation of the company and the air transport environment in the sub-region, the board decided to set January 2010 as the start-up date for the airline’s flights. The airline will serve-west and central Africa. It will later extends its wings to Europe, North America and Asia. ASKY has leased two Boeing 737s which are currently at the maintenance hangar of Ethiopian. The B737s are being painted the logo of ASKY.
http://en.ethiopianreporter.com/content/view/2096/26/

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