Construction work for the 500 thousand hectoliter beer producing plant owned by Ethiopian brewer Habesha Breweries SC is under way. The plant is to be constructed according to a turnkey contract agreement between the brewer and Chinese contractor Lehui.

It is expected that construction of the plant will be concluded within fifteen months according to the arrangement reached between the parties. Major shareholder Bavaria N.V, the Dutch company with 39 percent of the shares of Habesha handled most of the negotiations with the contractor to ensure that the first bottles of beer will reach both the local and international markets within the next fifteen months. The factory is to be built in Debre Berhan at an estimated cost of 700 million birr according to Zewdu Negate, General Manager of the factory. 30 million of the agreed upon sum will be paid to Lehui in US dollars with the financing being arranged through loans from undisclosed parties according to Zewdu.

Some minor changes were made in the original design of the factory to meet with European standards for export purposes he added.

Lehui was selected to construct the company after several visits to China to confirm that it had the capacity to construct the state of the art factory according to European standards said Yonas Alemu, Business Development Manager for Habesha.

The technology to be installed at the brewery is expected to be similar to what the Bavaria N.V plant in the Netherlands operates he added.

Source: The Reporter