China to invest 85pct of $300mln industrial park in Ethiopia

Ethiopia in association with China has planned to construct a new industrial park in the east African country. The USD 300 million amount is announced to be invested in the construction.

The economic and commercial counselor at the Chinese Embassy in Ethiopia, Liu Yu recently revealed that the construction of the industrial park located is expected to start before the completion of 2019.

Liu Yu also said that 85 percent of the funding needed to construct the industrial park will be covered through Chinese government concessional loans. The rest will be provided by the government of Ethiopia. The park is going to be constructed in Adama city, which is located 99 kilometres southeast of Addis Ababa.

“The planned industrial park will focus on attracting firms engaged in equipment manufacturing,” Liu Yu opined, noting that work is being done to conclude land acquisition and financing-related procedures. It will be the second industrial park in Adama city, a key commercial hub in central Ethiopia, with Chinese finance and expertise.

“The governments of China and Ethiopia have attached great importance to their cooperation in various fields including in construction of industrial parks, whereby they have achieved fruitful results,” Liu said to Xinhua.

A few months back, an Ethiopian scholar named Costantinos Bt. Costantinos has expression his opinion that China can advise the African governments on the important aspects of skills and efforts that are required to make industrial parks attractive and effective. Costantinos served as an economic advisor to the African Union (AU) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA). He said that “the African governments can make good use of China’s proven experience in the development of industry parks.”

“Like the Chinese experience, these industrial parks will contribute better if capital (both local and foreign currency) is available for investors,” Costantinos said.

In October last year, Ethiopia’s Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed inaugurated the first Adama industrial park that was constructed by China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) at a cost of USD 146 million. The upcoming industrial park is expected to provide jobs to 25,000 Ethiopians.

Also Read: Ethiopian Airlines to start Beira service from September