Ethiopia to commission 6 Chinese-built industrial parks before end of July

Ethiopia plans to commission six industrial parks, which are constructed by Chinese firms, before the end of July, an Ethiopian official said on Monday.

Speaking to Xinhua, Lelise Neme, CEO of Ethiopia Industrial Park Development Corporation (IPDC), said Kilinto, Dire Dawa, Bole Lemi 2, Bahir Dar, Arerti and Debre Birhan industrial parks are expected to be commissioned before the end of the current 2018/19 fiscal year.

Debre Birhan and Arerti industrial parks are being constructed by China Communications Construction Company, while Dire Dawa and Bahir Dar industrial parks are being constructed by China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation.

Kilinto and Bole Lemi 2 industrial parks are currently being constructed by China Tiesiju Civil Engineering Group and CGC Overseas Construction Group respectively.

"Ethiopia has invested around 1.3 billion U.S. dollars in the construction of around a dozen industrial parks, which it sees as a key strategy of achieving Ethiopia's industrial ambitions," said Neme.

"Ethiopia has so far built and commissioned five industrial parks and with the anticipated commissioning of six more industrial parks in 2018/19, Ethiopia's industrialization ambitions will receive a massive boost," Neme told Xinhua.

"Our industrial parks are facing energy supply shortages. To solve this problem IPDC is conducting studies on ways industrial parks can generate their own energy," she said.

Neme added Ethiopia is working to solve the logistics problems of firms, which have established factories in industrial parks.

With Ethiopia attracting large-scale investment in the export-oriented manufacturing sector, especially from Chinese firms, the country sees improving the efficiency and speed of the logistics sector as key to meeting national manufacturing revenue goals.

Ethiopia plans to increase the number of operational industrial parks from the current five to around 30 by 2025, as part of its efforts to make the country a light manufacturing hub and lower-middle-income economy in the same period.