2merkato

The United States government launched a Commercial Farm Service Program under the USAID to support the agricultural growth plan of the Ethiopian government according to an announcement from the Embassy of the United States in Addis Ababa.

The program will be part of the American presidential ‘Feed the Future Initiative’ in Ethiopia said the announcement.

The two year program will include grants and trainings for rural entrepreneurs in an effort to create a wholesale farm service center and six retail centers. These centers will be designed to meet the operational requirements of farmers. Add a comment Add a comment

Dutch company Stahl Africa has launched the first ever skin products chemical laboratory in Ethiopia. The laboratory was established in Addis Ababa at a total cost of 5 thousand Euros and is expected to offer testing for different types of animal skins and hides.

The laboratory will be a part of efforts to ensure the quality of Ethiopian leather products to enable them to become more competitive on the international market said Sisay Gemetchu, State Minister for Industry.

The laboratory will help share the well developed Dutch expertise in the sector with the Ethiopian leather industry to help support the growing field said Hans Blankenberg, Ambassador of the Netherlands in Ethiopia. Add a comment Add a comment

Addis Ababa is to get new technology that will improve the efficiency of the traffic system so as to alleviate problems related to traffic congestion.

The Addis Ababa City Roads Authority is in the process of finding vendors for traffic lights to be installed at fourteen junctions across the city. The authority announced the tender for interested suppliers 2 months ago at which time ten companies purchased bid documents. Two potential vendors submitted offers to the authority according to an anonymous source.

The authority has budget of 30 million birr to install the traffic light system according to Engineer Elisabeth Tesfaye who is a member of the committee evaluating the proposals. Add a comment Add a comment

Pacific Interlink is to construct an oil refinery plant in Ethiopia at an investment of 401.1 million birr according to sources. The plant is expected to produce 300 thousand tons of oil annually.

The proposal proffered by the Malaysian palm oil manufacturer was approved by the Privatization and Public Enterprises Supervising Agency which was responsible for the initial design and viability study for the proposed project.

The proposed refinery will be the largest to be constructed in the country yet and is expected to help alleviate the current shortage of oil in the country. Add a comment Add a comment

Habesha Construction and Materials Development, Ethiopia has selected Rama Construction plc to construct the 10 storey shopping center it proposes to build at a cost of 233 million birr. Rama will handle only the structural aspects of the proposed project at an estimated cost of more than 123 million birr according to the agreement signed between the two companies yesterday.

Rama will be expected to complete the structural work in 18 months from the time of the agreement.

The center to be named the Tigat Shopping Center will be constructed on 2,100 meter squares of land to be found on Haile Gebreselassie Street. It will be a mixed-use building to host offices, shops and a ninety bedroom four star hotel. Add a comment Add a comment

The Cooperative Bank of Oromia SC is to construct a new headquarter building close to the National Theater with an investment of 700 million birr.

The construction work of the proposed 25 storey building will be conducted on 5 thousand meter squares according to Wondimagegnehu Negera President of the bank.

The bank is currently handling the process of clearing the land of existing residents by handling compensation payment with the plan to begin construction work by the end of 2013. Add a comment Add a comment

Ethiopian Airlines has registered more than 25% in annual growth in areas including revenue, cargo transport and passenger.

The airline has managed to earn 1 billion birr in revenue and made 732 million birr in profit according to Tewolde Gebremariam, Chief Executive of Ethiopian.

Ethiopian transported 4.8 million people and moved 182 thousand tons of cargo showing significant increase as compared to the previous budget year he said. Add a comment Add a comment

The Ethiopian Ministry of Finance and Economic Development backed a 505 million US dollar loan extended to Djibouti by the Chinese Export-Import Bank. The ministry responded to a request for a guarantee for the loan to be used in the construction of Djibouti’s part of the railway connecting it to Ethiopia.

The bank has accepted the Ethiopian guarantee and approved the loan according to sources.

The Ethiopia Commodities Exchanges signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the government of the United States. The US government signed the agreement through the agency of the Unites States Agency for International Development.

The agreement is intended to allow collaboration towards enhancing the quality, marketing and traceability of Ethiopian coffee.

The agreement facilitates a partnership between the Agricultural Growth Program-Agricultural Market Development Project of the USAID with the exchange to enable sellers and buyers to track the origin of coffee through electronic coding and marking. The collaborative efforts will also include certifying laboratories and quality graders as well as enhancing the efficiency of the ECX warehouse system and increasing the number of farmer’s cooperatives. Add a comment Add a comment

Ethiopian Airlines renewed its long-term operator agreement with Travelport. The agreement means that Ethiopian Airlines will continue to distribute the Galileo products and services offered to the travel industry by the business service provider according to the announcement made by the airline.

The current agreement is an exclusive five year contract cementing the long term relationship between the two parties and highlights the important of the East African Region for the travel sector noted the announcement made by the airline.

Ethiopia is one of the fastest growing Global Distribution Systems in Africa as demonstrated by the 24% annual growth recorded between 2011 and 2012, according to figures compiled by Travelport. Add a comment Add a comment