Tender floated for Hawassa Industrial Park factory shed failed to attract any offer after only 9 companies bought the bid documents. Following this, Ethiopian Industrial Parks Development Corporation (IPDC) announced it would float the tender again which in the first place was only for local investors.

Commenting on the matter Arkebe Equbay said, “This is our pilot project following the policy direction adopted to encourage local industrialists. Since this is the first trial, we have learnt a lot and adopted a mechanism to ensure participation of locals”.

He added another announcement for the bid will be made by the end of this week.

Deputy CEO of Operation & IP Management, Shiferaw Solomon, noted he did not know why none of the 9 investors made an offer.

The first tender floated had 5 sheds to be sold to local investors. Out of these, 4 of them lay on 5,500 square meters while 1 of them is built over 11,000 square meters.

The industry park was set to be completed in two phases. The first phase is schedluded to be completed by the coming June and it covers 100 hectares of land. The construction commenced a few months ago and it is being undertaken by China Civil Engineering Corporation (CCECC).

The Chinese contractor is completing 35 factory sheds and 19 buildings for different purposes. The construction commenced work upon concluding a contract worth 246 million USD.

Source: Fortune