Ethiopia’s first engine manufacturing plant dubbed Mekelle Engine Production Factory, found in Tigray State, is set to be operational. The company, which is a state owned, is under the Metal and Engineering Corporation (MeTEC).

The factory is said to have production capacity of 20,000 engines every year and it will manufacture 3 types of engines; small, medium and heavy engines. The engines will serve for various purposes such as; vehicles, water pumps and power generators. The small engines are manufactured for three wheelers, pumps, power generators and walking tractors. Medium engines on the other hand are for buses and trucks while heavy engines are for construction machineries.

Mekelle Engine Production Factory has secured land in Wolega, Oromia State, for the purpose of exploring iron ore as an input for the production of engines.
The enterprise aimes to get 60 percent of its input from companies operating under Ethiopia Power Engineering Industry (EPEI).

The company targets vehicle assemblers operating in Ethiopia. Mekelle Engine Production Factory is expected to supply its engines to other enterprises which are under MeTEC; namely Bishoftu Automotive Engineering Industries, Akaki Basic Metal Industry, Debre Berhan Construction Machinery Industry and Adama Agricultural Machinery Industry.

“The product will help us to increase the rate of value addition on the vehicles we are assembling,” Metafer Beshahwured (Maj.), Bishoftu Automotive’s Deputy Manager for Marketing and Sales, explained.

In 2016 Ethiopia’s import for engines, engine spare parts and accessories reached 515.2 million USD. The import for the same products during the first 4 months of 2017, on the other hand, has reached 101 million USD.

Source: Fortune