A team from the Ministry of Construction and the Office of the Auditor General traveled throughout the country to audit cobblestone projects that were started in 2005.
The World Bank supported the project financing close to 8 million USD for the construction audit.
The Cobblestone Project started in 2005 in a bid to create job opportunities for youth, and to provide attractive and long-lasting road and pavement in Ethiopian cities. According to data from the Ministry of Construction and Urban Development, the cobble stone project has created close to half a billion jobs and more than 2,220 km of roads in over 140 cities between 2005 and 2014.
“The purpose of the cobble stone projects audit is to check the status of the road and to know the exact km of those constructed,” sources from the general auditor confirmed.
The dispatched group is traveling with civil engineers and accountants and moved in four direction began their task last week.
For the Addis Ababa city alone, close to 100,000 people were engaged in cobblestone project with an estimated budget outlay 2 billion USD for funding for urban housing development and transport infrastructure development programs according to a study made by Solomon Dejene for his Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to the Degree of Master of Arts in Public Management and Policy.
The cobblestone industry has made a positive impact and has advantages over other construction methods, especially asphalt paving. Some of these outcomes are visible: the aforementioned 350 km of roads and pedestrian foot paths constructed in over 140 cities.
Other, equally-important advantages to Ethiopian cities’ engagement in cobblestone sector activities are briefly described below
The positive impact of cobblestone paving versus other paving methods on both the local and global environment is profound. Cobblestone is much more durable and entails less rehabilitation and maintenance over the long run than asphalt.
In addition, the cost needed for maintenance and renewal activities reduces the amount of environmental stress caused by construction apart from it can be reused.
The Addis Ababa City Roads Authority already stopped the construction of pedestrian roads with cobble stone and is substituting by tiles mainly in the center of the cities with possible extension through different phase.
The construction audit is common everywhere to know the statues of the roads, bridges, etc so as to follow and maintain on time as they consume huge public expenditure. The audit is said to be concluded and may take up between six months and a year.
Cobblestone audit throughout the nation
Dashen profit hits a billion birr
Dashen Bank’s net profit after tax is now over a billion birr.
For the year the bank’s gross income has reached at 5.6 billion birr on its baking operation and other investments that grew by over 26 percent compared with a year ago.
For the year the bank was able to amass about 1.3 billion birr as profit before tax that was 1.14 billion birr a year earlier, according to the annual report of Dashen that is one of the two most profitable private banks in the country.
The net profit after tax has also stood at over a billion birr for the first time and reached over a billion birr, which was 928 billion birr a year ago.
The total assets of the bank has climbed to 56.2 billion birr with close to 24 percent increase or close to 11 billion birr rise compared with the 2017/18 financial year.
According to the report of the bank, the total capital has boosted at 6.8 billion birr, while the paid up capital has stood at 2.7 billion birr. It was 5.8 billion birr and 2.2 billion birr a year ago.
In the stated period the total deposit at the bank has almost registered a quarter increase compared with the preceding year and stood at close to 45 billion birr.
The reported indicated that in a single year the deposit mobilization has boosted increased by 8.7 billion birr that contribute the increase of 24.3 percent on the 2017/18 financial year amount that was about 36 billion birr.
The bank indicates that this increase has occurred because they have been expanding branches, improving customers orientation relationship management, and enhancing marketing activities.
In the year an additional 40 branches was opened at the capital and throughout the country that makes the total branch numbers to 413 as of June 30, 2019.
The total depositors at the stated period has reached 362,000, 161,000 debit cardholders and 847,000 the Amole platform users.
The Amole platform is a scheme provides a digital service for customers. On the e banking service Dashen was a pioneer and now it has expanded the ATM center by 50 and 487 POS that climbs the ATM centers to 355 and POSs to 1, 397.
At the stated period the loan and advances the bank provides in the stated period has registered tremendous growth with extraordinary trend in the sector and stood 32.4 billion birr from 23 billion birr a year ago. The increase is over 40 percent or over nine billion birr of the same period of last year.
From the total loan the domestic trade and services as usual in the financial industry dominate by 8.3 billion birr and followed by manufacturing and international trade that have taken about 6.4 and 6 billion birr respectively.
Despite the parallel market and weak export performance affects the international banking activity of the country in the year Dashen has enabled to generate over a half billion dollar from the sub banking sector.
On its interest free banking launched on the fourth quarter of the 2017/18 budget year Dashen managed to attract the interest of 66,000 customers and deposit mobilization has reached 1.1 billion birr.
Water sees a drop
The bottled water business is experiencing price drops. The Ethiopian Bottled Water and Soft Drink Manufacturing Industries Association (EBSMIA) says that at least two major brands have reduced prices.
According to the Association, the average price for a pack of half liter bottled water is 55 to 63 birr but now one company is selling the product for 38 birr.
Ashenafi Merid, General Manager of EBSMIA said that they are looking into the reasons behind the discounts. “The bottlers say that weather and competition are two major factors.” Ashenafi says EBSMIA wants to learn more.
Consumption of bottled drinking water has been increasing and currently there are over 87 factories and new brands are joining every month.
New entrants include Gold and Tena.
Local company Gold Group just launched Gold Water. The group set up two water bottling plants in Oromia Regional State with a 600 million birr investment. Gold Still Water Bottling Plant at the Taxeq Industry Zone in Burayu in Oromia Regional State and Gold Sparkling Water Plant in Ambo in Oromia Regional State. The construction of Gold water rests on 30,000sqm of land. The plant has a production capacity of 170,000 bottles per hour, in 330ml, one litter, two-litter and 20-litre bottles an hour. Gold Sparkling Water Plant will have a production capacity of 24,000 bottles of sparkling water an hour and is expected to enter the market after six months. Sisay Mengesha, marketing manager of Goldwater, said after three months, the company will start is exporting its product to Saudi Arabia and UAE. Gold will be distributed at 57 birr for one pack, Sisay mentioned.
Tena Water’s plant owned by Bereket Bottled Drinking Water PLC is one of the new firms joining the market. The plant is located at Soro District, in Hadiya Zone in southern Ethiopia with the investment of 200 million birr. The plant has a capacity of producing 15,000 half-liter bottles an hour. Tena Water will come in sizes of 350 ml, half-liter, one-liter, 1.5-liters and two-liters.
However, supply has not kept up with demand as the existing companies have the capacity to supply not more than five percent of the total consumption required in Ethiopia produces about 3.5 billion liters of water a year. Recently expansion of illegal water bottling that are unsafe has been a problem.
Creativity, conscientiousness needed for Ethiopia to prosper by 2050
Ethiopia is anticipating full access to energy, water and sanitation by 2025 as Lighting Ethiopia and Wash programs have been utilized effectively though the Energy, Water and Irrigation.
Minister Sileshi Bekele, underscored in his opening speech at an international conference that aims to draft a 30 year road-map to Ethiopia’s challenges and opportunities where Ethiopian scholars from many disciplines gathered to consult for two days at Skylight Hotel to come up with recommendation which the government has vowed to take into consideration.
“I can guarantee you that the government will take your comments as an input for our comprehensive development endeavor,” said Minister Dagmwit Moges, Ministry of Transport.
As Ethiopia’s population continues to grow dramatically and is projected to reach 200 million by 2050, the scale of challenges that await the country in terms of basic and critical infrastructures in energy, water, food, housing, transportation, renewable resources, etc., Ethiopia’s seasoned scholars gathered for proactive efforts in predicting these massive needs to carried out early and thoughtful plans to address the issues.
In the two-day international conference, 64 papers were presented for close to 400 participants.
“My job today is to make all of us uncomfortable with the hope that this will propel us forward,” said Debrework Zewdie, professor of public health and leadership from the United States.
“Only half the population has access to clean water. Only 15 percent have access to improved toilets. Right here in Addis Ababa only 10 percent of the houses have municipal sewerage access. The literacy rate is only 39 percent, which is low below the least developed average of 77 percent,” she said.
She stated that every year more than 257,000 children under the age of five die and 120,000 die in the neonatal period. Over 70percent of Ethiopians do not have electricity including 24percent of primary schools and 30percent of health centers.
She further stressed the need to use technology and abandon doing business as usual, adding that Ethiopia will not meet any of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, which replaced the eight Millennium Development Goals.
To finance these goals, Debrework urged government officials to stop stealing money from the country as she believes that the illicit money migrating from the country can do a lot.
“Through sets of grand visions and a series of peer-reviewed research reports and white papers by subject matter experts in a variety of engineering, technology, and planning disciplines, the report will offer bold, feasible, and actionable grand ideas for addressing the top 10 grand challenges of the country,” the organizers of the conference stated.
The major thematic areas identified include: food security, education and skill development, sustainable resource management, information communications technology, energy, health, urbanization, transportation, manufacturing, environment and employment.
“The refined outcome document from the conference will be submitted to the government to be used as a policy input based on pure data-driven decision making and policy advice in Ethiopia,” said Arega Yirdaw President of Unity University and one of the organizers of the conference.
As the rapid growth of population presses on urbanization, 25 new cities with sizes equivalent to Dire Dawa are required or 10 cities such as Addis Ababa, Bahir Dar, Hawassa, Adama, Mekelle, and Dire Dawa will have to become mega cities of 10 million or more to accommodate this growth as the country’s urban population alone is projected to reach 70.5 million with urbanization rate of approximately 37percent, up from the current rate of 16 percent in 2050.
Food security will be other grand challenge as the climate change continues to impact Ethiopia as well.
The country still faces food deficits from year to year; at times the deficits reaching almost 2 million metric tons per annum. Particular focus should be given for new technologies and approaches in soil management, agriculture, irrigation, and crop science that could help further improve food production in the country.
Tadsse Haileselise, presented a paper on food security to exhaustively engage in production of teff by changing the course of our rivers from the west when ample water resources are found on the eastern part of the country where there is a large amount of arable land.
“We have to pay significant amount of money for the farmers and for our unemployed youth to benefit to our potential,” Tadesse stressed.
“The irrigation program, means a lot for food production like fisheries, crops and livestock production. And that leads us to food security,” adds Silesh Bekele.
The papers presented by the scholars are expected to be summarized into a single policy recommendation that can be used as policy input by the government, according to the team of presenters.
