The Ethiopian Shipping and Logistics Services Enterprise (ESLSE) opened an international bid for the procurement of trucks. Documents for the procurement of 150 brand new heavy duty trucks to improve its service and replace the old ones were submitted.
According to Wondimu Denbu, deputy CEO of the Enterprise for Corporate Service the enterprise finalized the technical evaluation last Tuesday December 17, 2019.
The procurement will be financed by loans from the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia and 30 percent will be financed by the Enterprise itself.
As Roba Megersa, CEO of ESLSE said, 14 companies participated in the bid, including the local firm; Mesfin Industrial Engineering plc.
The bid was expected to be opened last September, but it was postponed to October 20, in connection with bidders who wanted further clarification about axle loads and to get clarification from Ethiopian Roads Authority (ERA) and Ministry of Transport. The enterprise aimed to import 4 axle load capacity trucks which is not allowed in the country. “We are going to import tri axle trucks,” said Roba, which were allowed by the two governmental bodies based on the agreement that Ethiopia signed under COMESA and other treaties the four axle truck is not allowed to be driven on the street to protect the road from over loading.
Currently ESLSE has about 440 trucks, 215 Renault trucks were purchased about four years ago.
ESLSE wants to get rid of 123 trucks that are not suitable for its import export operation. According to the deputy CEO, the enterprise is waiting for the board’s decision to remove these trucks in the coming 15 days. Beside these 123 trucks, the enterprise has awarded bid winners for other 36 old Mack Trucks.
ESLSE is also leasing trucks from private transporters besides using its own. Ethio – Djibouti is one of the most expensive corridors in the world. There are many logistical problems. “The trucks are very old, after one trip to Djibouti they have to go to maintenance,” said Roba, This is also because of the road infrastructure. According to Roba, Ethiopia needs about 600 trucks for daily transportation of containers however, we only have the capacity of half that number. The 750km railway connecting Addis Ababa with the port in Djibouti launched last year and can cut a three-day journey down to 12 hours.
In the past budget year ESLSE, earned 1.7 billion birr. The enterprise is one of the mega public enterprises scheduled in the latest privatization process through partial sales.
Enterprise to add 150 trucks
City Administration
The Addis Ababa City Administration in collaboration with MIDROC Ethiopia launched a cooking oil processing factory on December 28, 2019. The factory is said to have a capacity of producing 600,000 liters of edible oil per day. (Picture: Addis Ababa City Government)
Six drug factories to start operation at Kilinto Park
The Ethiopian Investment Commission gave licenses to six pharmaceutical manufactures to set up factories inside the Kilinto Pharmaceutical Industrial Park.
The pharmaceuticals are, Domina Pharma Plc on one-hectare of land, Eva Pharma PLC on 1.5 hectares of land, Intrade co.UK Ethiopian branch on 3.125 hectares of land, Africure Pharmaceuticals on 1 hectare land, Global Pharma on 0.5 hectares and Dagim Dereje Pharmaceuticals on 1.6 hectares of land.
According to the commission, these manufacturers are expected to produce dermatological products, parasiticides, scabies treatment and dandruff therapy shampoo, syrups and nasal drops, nasal decongestants antibiotic, anti TB and anti-malaria drugs, contraceptive drugs, non-beta lactam, and beta-lactams, antibiotics antiretroviral and non-anti-microbial agents tablets ointments capsules with a view to helping the pharmaceutical sector, which is still dominated by heavy importation of pharmaceutical products from abroad. The park is expected to support Ethiopia’s economy through the export of pharmaceutical products as well as import-substitution.
Even if the construction of Kilinto Industrial Park was finished in early 2019, the commission has not set a rate to lease the land which has made it difficult for investors to get in. The land lease rate in Kilinto Industrial Park is an average of 3.59 USD per meter square per annum, which is based on a cost-recovery approach.
The duration of land leases will be 40 years. In addition to the land development cost, firms investing in Kilinto are expected to pay an additional one birr per square meter per annum for the duration of the lease period. Investors in Kilinto Industrial Park will construct their own factories and sheds, as these, must be tailored to the types of products being produced according to the commission.
Located in the south of Addis Ababa, the park lays on 279 hectares of land, 166 hectares of which will be dedicated to manufacturing. Kilinto is being developed in two phases in collaboration with the World Bank Group.
Kilinto Industrial Park is constructed by Chinese construction giant Tiesiju Civil Engineering Group Co., Ltd. (CTCEGCL) at a cost of 204 million USD. The Park can host more than 1,000 pharmaceutical companies’ and offers serviced land, which includes the entire essential infrastructure such as a wastewater treatment plant, reliable water supply, and a dedicated power substation. It features 18-km of asphalt road, provision of basic social services, green areas, warehouses, business centers and car parking space, according to the Ethiopian Industry Parks Development Corporation.
In addition, a one-stop-shop will be located in the park, offering government services related to customs clearance, investment licensing, administration, product registration, etc. Joint warehousing, calibration, and testing services will also be available in the park.
The country plans to increase the number of industrial parks to 15 as part of a goal of turning Ethiopia into a light manufacturing hub in Africa. Currently, there are nine operational industrial parks. The government has secured USD 47 million in export earnings from products manufactured in industrial parks over the first quarter of this fiscal year. The performance has increased by 88 percent compared to last year in the same period. The conflicts in different parts of the country over the years, lack of infrastructure including electricity, foreign exchange, have affected the performance of the industrial parks.
Dashen stars youth job program in six cities
One of the two most profitable financial firms, Dashen Bank, launches the pro government initiative to expand youth entrepreneurship in a program that will include six cities at the initial stage with a budget of 100 million birr.
The project called ‘Ethiopian Talent Power Series’ is part of the bank’s five-year strategy plan that was approved a year ago, according to Asfaw Alemu, president of Dashen.
He said that the project is also one of the pillars of the government’s strategy to achieve in the coming years. Job creation has been the one of the government’s priorities in the past while actual achievement was poor. Abiy Ahmed’s new initiative, Home Grown Economic Reform Agenda, and the formation of commission for the job creation has been the imputes behind this.
Mamo Mihretu, the Prime Minister’s Policy Advisor, who attended the launching ceremony held on Thursday December 26, said that the reform agenda is mainly targets to shift the public driven economic direction to private sector. Since the reform agenda, which is a three year strategy started on the current budget year, they introduced several pro private sector policy reforms implemented and others will continue.
“The job creation will be primarily led by the private engine. The current initiative of Dashen is a good start that others should follow,” Mamo said.
Asfaw said that the program would include higher education institutions, researchers and public institutions who are engaged in the job creation initiative.
The project will have capacity building and training on entrepreneurship that is also supported by universities and other experts.
“We have several initiatives to promote our company in that framework we shall manage such new programs,” the president said.
“We have resources. The issue is how we play on the project. Providing finance is not a solution they would not back by capacity building,” he added.
Yihnalem Aknaw, Chief Transformation and Customer Experience Officer, said that the project will continue for the future.
“The ‘Ethiopian Talent Power Series’ has six pillars including entrepreneurial training, capacity building on small, medium enterprises higher education finance support, access to finance, business club formation and market linkage and finance support,” Yihnalem said.
“After the accomplishment of the training and capacity building the under the business club initiative the bank will provide finance for entreprenenuers to start business and other financers shall also provide form them,” he added.
Under initial stage of the project six centers at Dire Dawa, Addis Ababa, Meqele, Hawassa, Adama and Bahir Dar will be formed and they will include the surroundings, according to the top management of the bank.
Under a single centre 1,000 youth will be included on the training and they would form company at their graduation.
Chief Transformation and Customer Experience Officer said the bank has form a division to follow the performance of the project. The project will consume 100 million birr that is separate with the budget that will allocate as a loan.
The president indicated that despite they have been targeted to commence the project before the government announced the cancelation of 27 percent bond purchase under NBE bill directive, the government decision will encourage the initiative.
The bank leaders said that in September Dashen has been reduced the interest rate for loan on some type of business. “Following the government decision to stop the 27 percent bond on every loan ware also revising our loan interest rate that will be announced soon,” Asfaw added.
