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Hibir Sugar SC, Ethiopia has acquired a 6,183 hectare plot of land from the Ministry of Agriculture in the Amhara Regional State. The company will lease the land for 40 years at a rate of 533.30 birr per hectare.

Hibir selected the land for its suitability for irrigation, temperate weather for sugarcane growth, its proximity to the Tana Beles hydro electric power plant and the route to Port Djibouti.

The Ministry of Agriculture allocated the land to Hibir after a close study of its suitability and financial ability to meet 30% equity to fund the project from its own resources said Bizualem Bekele Land Administration team coordinator with MoA.

Ethiopia is drafting a new bill that will allow Share Companies to issue bonds to the public for financing projects. The issue of bonds will depend on the company receiving security guarantees from the National Bank.

The new bill informally known as the ‘Pro-shareholders Bill’ will change the current system whereby only the National Bank of Ethiopia, the Development Bank of Ethiopia and municipality administrations where the only entities issuing bonds.

The new draft bill will also aim to regulate the function and accountability structure of Share companies.

The Privatization and Public Enterprise Supervisory Agency in Ethiopia announced that it has earned a total of 762 million birr in revenue over the first two quarters of the fiscal year from the various enterprises under its administration.

The revenue raised by the agency is less than the 1 billion birr target it had set but up 230 million from the same period last year.

The revenue was raised by 53 public enterprises administered by PPESA excluding revenue for agricultural enterprises, which accounts for the deficit from the target revenue according to Wendafrash Assefa, Head of Public Relations with PPESA.

Wide Business plc is set to establish an agro-commercial farm in the Southern Regional State of Ethiopia, under newly established Bura Agro Integrated company.

The conglomerate has invested about 25 million birr in integrated agro-commercial irrigation farming on 428 hectares and expects to launch cotton farming on a further 400 hectare plot of land said Seid Hassen, General Manager of the Wide.

The company also anticipates investing in horticulture farming on 28 hectares of land he added.

Cummins Inc has announced Dawaleh Technology and Trading plc as its official and sole distributor in Ethiopia.

Cummins specializes in the design and manufacture of heavy duty filtration systems, coolant, exhaust and fuel additive technology for all diesel powered engines.

The Revenues and Customs authority in Ethiopia announced that it is drafting a new customs regulation.

The authority expects to issue the first draft of the regulation in three months according to Gebrewahid Woldegiorgis, Deputy Director and Head of Law Enforcement with ERCA.

It is expected that the new regulation will take effect before the end of the Ethiopian financial year said Gebrewahid.
The new regulation is designed to facilitate more modern and efficient customs processes he noted.

The Revenues and Customs Authority in Ethiopia is to undertake significant organizational restructuring and operational changes expected to be comprehensive.

Senior officials at the authority have launched a study to determine areas that require reform following recommendations from the office of the Ethiopian Prime Minster according to sources.

It is expected that changes will include the decentralization of operations at ERCA requiring adjustments to the organizational structure.

Ethiopian Airlines, Ethiopia’s flag carrier, has finalized the deal for the construction of its Head Quarter building inside of Bole International Airport with BET Architects plc and its partner Soehene Partners Architects.

The deal was signed by Yissehak Zewoldi, Vice President of Alliances & Corporate Strategic Planning with Ethiopian and Tesfamariam Teshome, Manager, Senior Partner, and Architect at BET Architects plc on Friday.

The deal was reached after a long negotiation process over a period of almost a year.

The Commercial Bank of Ethiopia is to purchase more than 1,400 units of note counting machines at an estimated cost of 30 million birr.

The order has been placed with the Ethiopian Trade Contacts plc which won the bid to supply the machines for 19,085 birr a machine.

The machines will be supplied by ScanCoin, a Swedish manufacturer of cash processing solutions. The SC-1500 model of machine to be supplied to the Ethiopian bank will possess accuracy enhancing features such as chain fed notes and automatic detection of double bank notes.

National Bank of Ethiopia received its first request for 250 grams of 18 carat of gold from Teklu Desta Jewellery.

The order for the minimum amount set by the central bank five months ago by the regulation compelling goldsmiths to purchase gold bars exclusively from it as of November of last year.

Teklu Desta has become the first Jeweler to purchase the gold from the central bank with other goldsmiths discouraged by the higher rates set by the bank.