2merkato

The Council of Ministers endorsed last Friday the formation of the Ethiopian Shipping & Logistics Enterprise (ESLE).

The enterprise is an amalgamation of Ethiopian Shipping Lines (ESL), Ethiopian Maritime Transit Services (EMTS) and Dry Port Service Enterprise (DPSE).

The initial proposal for the company to be a corporation was abandoned. It is to be formed as a state enterprise instead.

A delegation from the government and the Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPCO) is scheduled to sign an official and binding agreement with Djibouti tomorrow for the export of electricity.

Ethiopia was exporting electricity to Djibouti on a trial basis for the last four months charging Djibouti 0.70 dollars a kilowatt.

The 65 million dollar project, largely financed by the African Development Bank (AfDB), aims to raise access to electricity in Djibouti to 60 percent by 2015 which was 49.5 percent in 2003. 

Gulf General Investment Company, a Dubai-based conglomerate whose net worth is about 3.7 billion dollars and M2K Business Services, a local company, are jointly planning to set up an aluminium extrusion plant at the outskirts of Addis Ababa.

The extrusion plant, which is planned to be constructed at Sululta in the Finfinne Special Zone, is estimated to cost 12 million dollars.

The Ministry of Information and Communication Technology (MICT) said that it had granted permission to companies that run internet-dependant operations to acquire and use VSAT (Very Small Aperture Terminal).

Some months earlier, the ministry had issued a directive allowing companies which are dependent on the internet and those working in remote areas of the country where there is no access to the internet to use VSATs, Debretsion Gebremichael (PhD), minister of MICT, said.