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The main Dam at the Kesem Kebena sugar irrigation project has successfully retained water. The current water reserve in the dam retained in the last weeks of the rainy seasons is enough to irrigate a 20 thousand hectare sugarcane plantation in the Afar Regional State said Alemayehu Tegenu, Minister for Water and Energy.

The Water Works Construction Enterprise has been working around the clock to finish the project by the end of the rainy season it was noted.

The dam which has the capacity to retain 500 million cubic meters of water will be completely finished in the coming weeks according to Alemayehu.

The International Monetary Fund announced that it may be possible to reduce inflation to single digits in Ethiopia by the end of this financial year.

The government has been following a tight and consistent monetary policy to force inflation down to single digits and IMF supports the tightening of federal government monetary and fiscal policies said Jan Mikkelsen, IMF Resident Representative.

The public sector led development strategy of Ethiopia is encouraging although it may have a negative impact on the private sector according to Mikkelsen.

The Expansion project on the Fincha Sugar Factory intended to double the production of the factory has been completed.

The 4.5 billion birr expansion project is expected to raise the production capacity of the factory from 1.1 million quintals per annum to 2.7 million quintals of production every year according to Girma Wayu, Manager of the factory.

The expansion will also increase the production of ethanol at the factory to 20 million liters every year from just eight million liters at present he noted.

A Charcoal plant was inaugurated in the Southern Regional State of Ethiopia. The factory is planned to play a significant role in efforts to generate renewable energy from agricultural by-products as part of the initiative for Green Development said Wondimu Tekle, State Minister for Mines and Energy.

The factory can potentially produce more than 15 tons of charcoal from coffee husks alone said Dereje Jebo, Manager of the Gedo Development Association.

Farmers can also make extra income from selling the coffee husks to the factory he added.

The Ethiopian Hansom International Glass factory, which had temporarily halted production due to hikes in international furnace oil prices, is to re-launch production according to Xia Yong, General Manager of the company.

The company found it hard to sustain production following the increase in the price of furnace oil from just 5 birr a liter before 2009 to 13 birr a liter said Yong. The factory suspended production activity in April 2010 and has reopened at this time after taking several steps to minimize costs.

Measures taken towards achieving this end include reducing the size of the furnace and diversifying the color of the product he noted.

The sister financial institutions, Nib International Bank and Nib Insurance are launching a soil test to determine a construction site for their joint headquarter buildings.

The buildings are to be constructed on a 3000 m2 plot of land leased near the National Theater in Addis Ababa. The building will be 33 storey high with four sub-terrain floors according to the design approved said Tafesse Bogale, Chairman of the board of directors of the bank.

The design for the building was executed by Haile Gabriel Consult Architects and Engineers selected by the Nib management after a design competition. Nib management and the consultants have declined to disclose the development of the project.

Agriterra’s legacy oil interests in Ethiopia are estimated at 2.7 billion barrels according to a new report. he projected figure is a best case gross un-risked estimate derived from an independent review carried out on the South Omo concession according to African Oil which is a partner in the venture.

Agriterra has 20% state in the concession and Africa Oil owns 30% while Tullow Oil owns the remaining 50%.

It is to be remembered that Tullow has already made oil discoveries at the concession it is prospecting in Kenya and which is located in the same system as South Omo.

Aviation Industry Corporation of china is expected to launch expansion construction on the maintenance hangar at Addis Ababa Bole International Airport at an estimated cost of more than 95 million US dollars.

The design for the expansion has been completed and the project is at the soil testing stage at present.

The maintenance hangar will serve to  service a range of aircraft from the Ethiopian Airlines fleet including  the Dreamliners aircraft, 777 airplanes and 747’s according to Tewolde Gebremariam Chief Executive of the Airline.

IT Solutions and IT training service provider Techno Brain achieved Cisco Certified Status in Ethiopia and four other East African countries: Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Uganda.

The certification allows the IT firm the opportunity to develop stronger relations with Cisco in the field of sales which directly interacts with customers.

The certification is testament to a strengthened credibility among customers and Cisco sales team have access to a wealth of program and support services from the company according to Ricardo Moreno, Senior Director for Strategy Planning and Programs for Cisco Worldwide Partner Organization. 

Ethiopian Airlines is planning to begin flights to the South Eastern Nigeria city of Enugu. The airline will begin offering flights to this destination as part of its plans to increase its destinations to Africa’s most populous country.

The airline has plans to fly to a range of destinations in Nigeria including to the Southern Central Port City Port Harcourt, Kano the largest city in Northern Nigeria as well as increasing the number of flights to the capital, Abuja according to Tewolde Gebremariam, Chief Executive of Ethiopian.

The airline wants to increase the number of flights to Abuja because the Abuja-Addis-Asia route and the Abuja-Addis-Dubai-Bangkok-China route are currently the best flight options for passengers flying to Nigeria he said.