Bottom of the table Adama Ketema sent a message to other premier league clubs that aggressive shopping in the midseason players’ transfer market is not all about relegation survival. Five foreign players including a 41-year-old striker and a giant shot stopper, Adama stood the highest spender in the mid-season players’ transfer market.
The 1.93m giant goal keeper from Mali means no more target practice for rival teams that humiliated Adama in first round fixtures. The Malian international played for different local sides before he served his national team on five occasions.
Conceding the highest number of goals (30) in the first round, bringing in two central defenders is more than logical move by the club once the flag ship carrier of Oromia football. Formerly with Sidama Bunna Edward Lawrence and a Malian central defender formerly with AS Police Lamini Komare, Adama is sure to boast one of the strongest defense lines. Former SK Abidjan and Esperance de Tunis Elise defensive midfielder Dimankil from Burkina Faso gives the side an extra hand in manipulating the midfield which was the weakest point in the squad. Add to that, the 24-year-old Guinean international striker Sekouba Kamara, it is all written in Adama’s ambition to go further than survival.
“The three weeks break due to international fixtures is seen as a blessing to workout team chemistry,” the recently appointed Coach Zeray Mulu said appearing to have every firearm under his command to mount a successful comeback before the end of the season.
Adama: Ready to mount surprise comeback
Ethiopian international Oumed tasked to inspire Hossana
The former Waliya striker Oumed Oukri returned home only to join Ashenafi bekele’s Hadiya Hossana in a one-year deal. The Gambela born Oumed is the second player next to the giant defensive midfielder Gatoch Panom who returned home to join Wolayta Dicha.
The presence of the two footballers boasting half a dozen years of adventure in foreign clubs is much expected to bring about an additional spark to the Ethiopian premier league second round fixtures.
Nicknamed the” The Cheetah” Oumed Oukri is much expected to revitalize the league season’s surprise package Hadiya Hosana and now he is handed a huge responsibility to save in poor form Sidama Bunna and newly appointed Coach Gebremedin Haile from relegation nightmare.
Serving nearly half a dozen sides in his six years stay in Egypt scoring a number of goals, the former Mekelakeya and Kidus Giorgis forward Oumed is going to spearhead Hossana’s strike force that was considered the weakest point in Coach Ashenafi Bekele’s squad.
The former Ethiopian Premier League Player of the Year Oumed is best remembered for his amazing pace. “Diehard individual effort and spectacular volleys from the edge of the box, he is going to be a real game changer for his amazing pace and thundering volleys. He gives Hossana an extra hand in tormenting our adversaries,” one of the senior players suggested.
Back from three weeks break due to international matches, the season’s surprise package Hossana is expected to stay on course at the top four finishers. “A fruitful three weeks break and new faces in the squad, we are ready for new adventures,” one of the players suggested.
Deadline extended for aspiring telecom entrants
As per the request of bidders the Ethiopian Communication Authority (ECA) rescheduled the deadlines for the two telecom licenses bid document submission, meanwhile companies have demanded up to 45 days of extension.
The final date for the submission of documents for the highly anticipated opening up telecom sector was on Monday April 5.
However, on the same day the authority announced that it has pushed the deadline by three weeks which is till April 26.
On the announcement, ECA has stated that the decision to postpone for the submission of proposal is as per the request of potential bidders.
“Due to requests by bidders to have more time to finalize their offer in light of the COVID 19 market environment, ECA determined their request to be appropriate and the deadline for submission of bids for the two new telecom operator licenses is extended to April 26, 2021 at 10:00 am East Africa Time (EAT),” ECA stated on its social page.
It is now the second time postponing the submission period that was originally on March 5, while on the question and answer session of the request for proposal early this year; bidders had expressed their demand to get more time for preparation that was followed by pushing the date for April 5.
On the bidding process the authority has conducted several clarification and discussion with bidders as per their submission of query to which the final conference was held on February 25.
Balcha Reba, Director General of ECA, in his comment about the reschedule of the bid submission said that it is normal that bid submission date extension is requested by bidders, when they think they do not have sufficient time to complete their preparations for the bidding.
“Bidders officially requested to have additional time to finalize their bid proposal. After putting their proposal together, bidding companies need time to discuss with their board of directors, shareholders, financial partners, etc, to get final approval on their investment and offer. Hence, they have requested extension of bid submission date by 30 to 45 days,” he told Capital via text message.
“Considering this, ECA, in consultation with concerned entities determined the request to be valid, and decided to extend the bid submission date by three weeks (21 days),” he added.
The request for proposal was issued on November 27, 2020.
At the expression of interest request, about 12 companies had shown their interest to get as new entry to the industry.
About 36 requests and expression of interests from all over the world had come from those who wanted to be involved in the bid.
Recently, Balcha told Capital that the government has given required attention to close the bidding in a transparent manner.
Experts in the industry said that giant companies are aggressively working to be part of one of the two new operators in the huge market with about 120 million citizens. “Major global players on the telecom industry are highly eager to be part of the market and the presence of some companies is also seen the town,” one of the sector expert who closely followed the companies activity told Capital.
Railway proposed to Berbera
Ethiopia is considering connecting Berbera Port into Ethio-Djibouti Railway network under the public private partnership (PPP) investment platform. The planned project was not part of the 5,000km railway project that Ethiopia had tabled to develop about a decade ago.
The proposed project that is called ‘port to port connection project’ is expected to be carried out under the 10 year development plan that was recently endorsed.
The project is expected to be developed under PPP arrangement with potential investors. On the recent transport investment summit the project was introduced for interested investors. The project may have an estimated 310 km distance from Ayisha, which is connected with the Ethio Djibouti Standard Gauge Railway, to Berbera Port.
However, most of the project would be carried out inside the border of Somaliland, the administrator of Berbera Port.
Currently DP World, a Dubai based port operator, has carried out a massive expansion at Berbera Port, which is a good alternative for south eastern and southern parts of Ethiopia.
The document from the Ministry of Transport (MoT) that was disbursed at the summit indicated that only 60 km would be inside the Ethiopian border, while the remaining 250km will be developed in Somaliland.
The project distribution indicated it is expected to open alternative sea access and important international railway corridor to the country. It added that the project envisions constructing a standard gauge railway line compatible with the existing Addis Ababa-Djibouti line, railway stations, port rail connection and auxiliary facilities.
The estimated cost of the project is USD 1.5 billion; however, it is noteworthy that it did not clearly explain whether the amount is the total cost between the two countries or only on the Ethiopian side. On similar lines, experts commented that the amount should include the project of Somaliland.
The MoT description said that the project will improve the inland transport system of Berbera Port and will have an impact on all areas along the line and facilitate development of the port service industry and national economy of Ethiopia.
About 11 years ago, the government had proposed to construct the 5,000 km of railway system. From the stated distance, only 660 km of railway that connects with Djibouti’s 100 km Standard Gauge Railway was finalized early 2018, while the 392km Awash-Hara Gebeya railway line is under construction.
According to the previous proposal, the government had targeted to stretch the line in the; North, North West, West and South part of the country besides the Ethio Djibouti. The Ayisha, which is located in Somali region, housing the Berbera project is new on the sector development.
According to the transport sector, the ten year development plan highlights that the length of railway coverage would be 4,199km by 2030.
The ten year transport sector development plan is expected to come to fruition by PPP, joint venture, concession, FDI and fully ownership by the government that would be financed by international partners.
On the summit, the government has tabled 44 projects for the private sector to develop in different schemes.
It is also to be recalled that about two decade ago, the Ethiopia born Saudi billionaire, Ali Al-‘Amoudi, had targeted and envisioned to lay a railway track joining Somaliland to Ethiopia. This plan was envisioned in partnership with Middle East and North Americans partners in conjunction with the Ethiopian government.
