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The Ethiopian Postal Service Enterprise, Ethiopia’s sole mail carrier has won two bronze awards from the Universal Postal Union it announced.

The enterprise won the first award for its efficient Emergency Message Service according to Ziyen Gedlu, Head of the Communications work process with the EPSE.

The second award was given in recognition of the enterprise establishing a mechanism for complaints management said Ziyen.

The award will help the postal service to enhance its competitiveness she noted.

The first phase of the expansion work on the taxiway of the Bole International Airport, Ethiopia was completed said the Ethiopian Airports Enterprise. The project was completed at a total cost of 1.1 billion birr.

The expansion project was intended to enhance the airport’s capacity to meet air traffic flow said Wondim Teklu, Head of Public Relations and Communications Service with the EAE.

Bole International Airport is able to offer service to 34 aircraft simultaneously following the completion of the first phase of expansion. The airport currently services up to 110 aircraft a day making it one of the busiest airports in East Africa according to sources.

Tecno Mobile Ethiopia is set to release the first domestically assembled smart phone next month for an estimated price of 6000-8000 birr.

The new smart phone branded Tecno T3 supports the Google Android 2.3 smart phone operating system. Android is a Linux-based operating system used in mobile devices including smart phones and tablet computers.

Tecno is studying the market to decide on the market price for the new product according to Henry Yu, General Manager of Techno Ethiopia.

Abay Bank, Ethiopia announced finalizing the interconnection of its 22 branches to launch CORE banking solutions. The software technology was installed by the US firm Oracle Financial Service Software.

The software connects the branches with the Head Office through a Wide Area Network which will serve as a base to implement the CORE banking system. The system is designed to adapt to the fast growth in the financial sector allowing easy connectivity and third part networking.

Ethiopia expects to inaugurate the first industrial zone under management by the Industry Zone and Environmental Protection Agency in the coming September.

The Bole Lemi Industry Zone located on 156 hectares is planned to be completed in time for the Ethiopian New Year and will be opened to domestic and international developers said Melaku Taye, Head of Public Relations with the Ministry of Industry.

The MoI has also received more land from the Addis Ababa City Government and from regional states to develop and manage other industrial zones he said.

The city administration of Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa has announced the new per m2 prices for land lease in the city. The city revised the existing lease rate as per the current market price it was learned.

The new prices will serve as a benchmark for land being auctioned by the city and for former private holdings being transferred to the lease system as per the new Urban Lands Lease Holding Proclamation.

The new directive divides land in the city into three zones according to their proximity to the center.

Ethiopia fixed the price of cotton at 29 birr to 32 birr a kilogram to allow cotton growers to dispose of accumulated stock estimated at 106,000 tons.

The price was fixed by a committee of cotton and textile industry players with government oversight. The committee met with Tadesse Haile, State Minister for Industry and included representatives of textile manufacturers, the Ethiopian Textile Development Institute and cotton growers.

The tax authority of Ethiopia is to probe petroleum distributing companies on potential windfall gains following the regular price adjustments to the price of fuel by the government.

The Ethiopian Revenues and Customs Authority will launch the investigation in the coming weeks and will levy windfall tax should it discover that the companies are earning undeclared gains from the price adjustments according to sources.  

The tax authority was notified of the windfall gains in the sector by anonymous informants who presented a study conducted on seven petroleum companies it was learned.

The Commercial Bank of Ethiopia announced the launch of internet banking services for the 74 branches connected through integrated banking solutions (Core Banking).

The bank will offer the service to individual customers as well as to companies.

The new system operates on any device that is able to support an internet browser and makes use of anti hacking and anti E-theft systems building up on the experience of Asian and European banks said Solomon Mengesha, Assistant Vice President of Information Systems with CBE.

Tsehay Insurance SC formally entered the insurance sector in Ethiopia at a ceremony held last Saturday.

The Insurance Company launched operations with its first branch opened in mid-May and currently has three branches located in the Abune Petros, Haya Hulet and Merkato areas of Addis Ababa.

The company is planning two more branches before the end of the current financial year in July in the Addis Ketema and Meshualkia areas.