Ethiopian Shipping and Logistics Service Enterprises (ESLSE) annuls the bidding process to procure 150 heavy-duty trucks. The enterprise disclosed that the international bid will be refloated with some revisions in the bid document.
It is to be recalled that the logistics mammoth and multimodal monopoly invited international sellers to compete on the bid to supply 150 trucks for its cross-border operation.
A few weeks back, the enterprise stated that a technical evaluation had been undertaken before opening the financial offer. However last week ESLSE officials in a turn of events disclosed that the bidding process had been terminated owing to the low number of participating companies.
Wondimu Denbu, Deputy CEO for Corporate Service, told Capital that the enterprise was forced to stop the process because only one company submitted its bid documents to supply the trucks.
According to insights, the Chinese vehicle-manufacturing giant, Jinan Sinotruck Co. was the only company that came through with its offer.
Jinan Sinotruck Co, which is known for its heavy-duty trucks, Sinotrucks, was the company that won last year’s bid to supply 150 Sinotruck vehicles at the cost of 11 USD million.
Wondimu said that ESLSE will refloat the bid for another round, “if the coming bidding process will not be successful the enterprise will look for another alternative as per the country procurement rules.”
He said that the second-round bidding will take place with some revisions from the former bid document.
On the initiative embarked by the Ministry of Transport and Logistics that allowed 168 transport companies to import 3,200 general cargo trucks through a differed letter of credit (LC), ESLSE has engaged in the bidding process to buy its quota, 150 trucks. However, the actual demand of the enterprise is over 300 brand new trucks.
As per the differed LC scheme the enterprise has opened the LC by 30 percent of the procurement value and the balance will be paid in the coming two years’ time. The government has given the guarantee for the payment that will be settled in the timeframe given by the scheme.
Currently, 38 trucks that are directly bought from the Chinese manufacturer at the cost of the same winning price of last year’s bid are being transported to Djibouti. According to the country procurement rule, the enterprise has a right to conduct up to 25 percent additional direct purchase from the bid winning supplier, “that is the advantage we applied to procure additional 38 trucks, besides the 150 Sino trucks, which are already in the operation,” officials of ESLSE recently told Capital.
Currently, ESLSE has 450 operation heavy-duty trucks and the new coming 38 trucks will increase the number to 488.
About five years ago, 215 trucks were purchased from the French automotive company, Renault Trucks. As the norm of ESLSE, the new fleet will allow the enterprise to exclude the long-serving and economically inefficient trucks from its cross-border operation.

With all the dire situations in the country, Ethiopian Electric Power (EEP) discloses that in a positive light most of the mega projects are running as per projection. At the half year mark, the energy service export has reeled in over USD 46 million with no incidence of nationwide blackout being reported.
Moges Mekonnen, Public relation head of EEP, said that despite challenges popping in different corners of the country, mainly on the northern part of Ethiopia, the power generation entity has recorded smooth running of its mega projects.
“Our big projects that are being undertaken in different parts of the country are running without any halt. For instance, the GERD is running as per schedule, similar to Koysha hydro-electric project whilst government on its end has given required attention and support,” he told Capital.
Moges likewise called on the public to continue accelerating its moral and financial support for projects, saying, “for instance, currently GERD is at 84.2 percent completion, thus the public should continue their contribution aggressively since the project is on the early generation work stage.”
“Our concern on delay of projects is at the sites located in Amhara, Afar and Tigray,” he added.
Projects like Bahir Dar-Woldya-Komblocha 400 kv transmission line, which is 85 per cent accomplished, has been looted by the terrorist group as they expanded their territory through aggression to Amhara region.
Similarly, the Mekele-Dallol transmission line project that stretches to Semera-Afdera has fully been stopped.
Because of the aggression, 1.6 billion birr worth of damages were incurred in Amhara and Afar regions, while the infrastructure status at Tigray and some areas in Afar where the terrorist group relaunched its aggression is not known.
In the first six months of the budget year EEP has generated 7,673 GWh energy which is 84 percent of the target. “The generation projection was 9, 080 GWh, while some part of the areas in Afar and Amhara were out of service because of the aggression, thus our generation was reduced for the sake of power saving,” Moges explains.
Similarly, the generation was reduced due to the two power stations operating in Tigray not being included in the report for the stated period.
In the first half year USD 46.4 million was earned from power export to Djibouti and Sudan. The revenue earned from the export has increased by ten percent compared with the same period of last year.
“From energy export to Djibouti increased by 10 percent to USD 26.9 million compared with the same period of last year,” Moges explained.
Ethiopia is also on the process to embark power sales to southern neighbor, Kenya.
Moges said that in the budget year, EEP has projected to earn USD 138 million from service export of the three countries, while the export to Kenya is yet to commence.
“If the export to Kenya commences in the coming months the earnings will be expanded,” he explained.
Last year, USD 90.5 million was secured from energy export.
The Public Relation head stated that in the past six month it has achieved massive success in generation and operation, “for instance in the last budget year, during the first half, two nationwide blackouts had occurred which has not transpired during this period.”

Ashewa Technology Solution SC launches a seven million birr project that is set to benefit 500 youths.
The digital commerce and learning platform will see the youth creating market lineage through the digital scheme that it facilitates.
Ashewa Tech, being a solutions company that houses an e-commerce platform where buyers and sellers converge, will enable the beneficiaries to sell their commodities and services on its platform, under the new initiative. Daniel Bekele, General Manager of Ashewa, to this end explained that the company is designing and implementing different projects that shall benefit the youth.

BGI Ethiopia launched the second BGI XP’s internship program on Tuesday, February 15, 2022, at the premises of Addis Ababa university’s 6kilo campus.
Through the program students will be selected from the 5 campuses of Addis Ababa University based on their academic achievement which is followed by various assessments.
“Passing through these assessments increases students’ confidence. During their internship, students will find real-life experiences and opportunities related to their careers, ultimately gaining the ability to decide on their future,” said officials from BGI.
During the course the day, BGI Ethiopia introduced the program to the students at the 6kilo campus and explained BGI XP’s nature and the requirements set to participate in the program. More than 500 students attended the orientation while 50 up to 60 students are expected to be part of the internship. Through this program, BGI Ethiopia believes that it will create talented young professionals who; are respectful of the institution’s values, have a good understanding of the organization’s work culture, have multi-faceted business interests, and are passionate about working towards positively changing the company.
The objective of the project is curved in such a way that allows students to build their future careers in the institute. For example, it will help students build relationships with professionals and staff at different levels whilst gaining valuable experience in teamwork. Furthermore, it will enable them acquire problem-solving skills and to learn the basic ways of effectively communicating in the workplace, which are essentials to getting employed and staying active and proficient in today’s job competition.A year ago BGI Ethiopia had signed a memorandum of understanding with Addis Ababa University, to implement the BGI XP internship Program. Accordingly, actions were taken. The BGI Ethiopia Internship Program will be held for two months in the summer, involving students from 2nd -year university students. Students who have been selected to participate in this internship program will receive a stipend from the institution during the internship month.