Djibouti that inaugurated three new ports last year is going to launch the construction of another new three ports this month.
The logistics hub that is the main gateway for the land locked Ethiopia is going to commence the construction of different ports along the coast lines of the outskirt of the capital Djibouti city and Damerjog on the aim to expand its port handling capacity, which has now upper hand in the region.
Recently on the meeting held by the Ethiopian Maritime Affairs Authority and Djibouti Ports and Free Zones Authority (DPFZA) here in Addis Ababa Aboubaker Omar Hadi, Chairman of DPFZA, told Ethiopian media that the country is going to commence the construction of new additional ports that will be finalised in different phases.
“In the last 13 months we have opened three new ports. We are now planning by the end of this month to start the construction of additional three ports in different location in the country,” the chairman said.
He added that the investment cost is going to be in several phases but the initial investment would be about half a billion USD for the projects.
As one of the upcoming projects Djibouti International Container Terminal is main project that would boost the country’s exclusive container port terminal facility by additional container terminal from the current Doraleh Container Terminal.
The total investment of Djibouti International Container Terminal may cost USD 654 million and will be erected between Doraleh Container Terminal and the recently inaugurated Multi-Purpose Port (DMP) with natural water depth of 18.5m.
The upcoming additional container will have a capacity of 2.5 million TEU containers on the first phase.
The other project that is expected to be launched in the current month is the construction of Ship Repair and Drydocks, which will consume USD 200 million, according to the document Capital obtained from DPFZA.
Djibouti Damerjog Industries Development (DDID) is also the other huge project that the Djibouti government planned to undertake in the near future.
The DDID project will have a multipurpose port, livestock terminal, a refinery, storage tanks, dry dock, gas complex and its jetty, and jetty for refined and crude oil.
Few years back Djibouti has been targeting to construct the livestock port at Damerjog, a place that is close to the border of Somaliland in the south of Djibouti, but it has been revised with additional huge and massive development facilities.
As per the plan the DDID will have a multipurpose port that shall accommodate all kind of cargos including bulk and containerized. The livestock port that targeted to solve the claim of livestock exporters from Ethiopia will be constructed on the aim to boost and modernize the cattle export of Ethiopia.
At the same time the complex port and additional facilities will also include several projects that are directly related with the natural gas development and export from Ethiopia.
Djibouti to construct three new ports
New Hospitality Academy offers international standard education
Hospitality Job fair starts February 17
A new hotel training academy will simulate a four star hotel with 100-150 rooms. The Addis Ababa Hotel Association is building the academy to help supply the industry with better trained hospitality workers and at the same time help the youth find employment in the hospitality industry. Over the next 32 years it plans to train one million people in Ethiopia. Currently they are conducting a study and getting ready to sell shares and secure the land to begin construction. Students will learn food and beverage service, food production and housekeeping. Each trainee will then select one path for their career and could look for work in one of the star hotels or use their certificate to look for work abroad.
Binyam Bisrat Addis Ababa Hotel Association President told the press last Thursday that the new school will train many people and make a difference in hospitality.
“There are 165 hotels are in Addis Ababa which are rated from one to five star and more than 100 local and international brand hotels are in the pipeline. So we need the right skilled man power. The new hospitality academy will present a fantastic opportunity for the area’s communities and its hotels.’’
He added that the academy will play a role in sending skilled workers abroad. “When Ethiopians want to get jobs in hotels in other countries employers require them to have a certificate but previously it wasn’t really possible to obtain this. This school will be accredited so that employers will know they are getting skilled workers.”
Binyam says that hotel business has been improving lately and tourists are returning.
In related news the first Hospitality Job fair and Networking event will be carried out at the Intercontinental Hotel on February 17.
More than 200 hotels will participate in the event and up to 5,000 trained hotel workers will have the opportunity to meet hotel owners and apply for hotel jobs.
Andualem, Eskinder among the 746 prisoners to be released
Two Ethiopians considered by rights groups as among the country’s most prominent political prisoners are to be released as part of the government’s efforts to “foster national reconciliation” after almost three years of anti-regime protests. Andualem Aragie, vice president of the Unity for Democracy and Justice party and jailed for treason, and Eskinder Nega, a journalist who has been detained seven times on treason and terrorism charges, are in a group of 746 people serving sentences for terrorism, inciting violence and similar offences to be freed, the state-affiliated Fana Broadcasting Corporation reported on Thursday.
The announcement follows the release of almost 6,400 prisoners and detainees last month. They are the first steps in what the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front, which has ruled since 1991, has said will be an opening up of the “democratic landscape”. Analysts say the moves are tacit recognition that repression has failed to quell almost three years of protests by people across large swaths of the country, and particularly in the Oromia and Amhara regions, demanding greater democracy. Andualem was one of the cofounders of the UDJ in 2009, having already served several years in prison for opposing the government. He was detained again in September 2011 and sentenced to life imprisonment in June 2012 for “attempting to dismantle the constitution”, according to the charges. Eskinder was first arrested on treason charges in 2005 when he was editor of the newspaper Satenaw over demonstrations against the result of the 2005 general election. He was pardoned at the end of 2007 but the newspaper closed. He was arrested in September 2011 on anti-terrorism charges and sentenced to 18 years imprisonment in January 2012. The following year a UN panel concluded that Eskinder’s imprisonment was “a result of his peaceful exercise of the right to freedom of expression”.
Commenting on the news that journalist and Amnesty International prisoner of conscience Eskinder Nega will be among 746 prisoners released as part of a government pardon, Sarah Jackson, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes, said“It is wonderful news that this brave journalist will soon walk to freedom after seven years spent in jail simply for doing his job. He should not have spent a single day behind bars.”
“But the world must not lose sight of the thousands of other people still languishing in jail on trumped up and politically-motivated terrorism charges, including Bekele Gerba, Addisu Bulala, Woubshet Taye. All prisoners of conscience must be released immediately and unconditionally and compensated for the grave injustices done to them.”
(Compiled from Agencies)
The dam will not affect Egypt; Simegnew Bekele
Over 250,000 visitors have seen GERD over the last seven years
Simegnew Bekele (Eng.), manager of the Great Ethiopia Renaissance Dam (GERD) said over 250,000 people visited the dam during the last seven years. According to him, government and private employees, more than 200 international media, and diplomatic missions including Egypt and Sudan visited the dam.
Simegnew, met more than 40 local journalists, saying that the huge number of visitors is a reflection of the dam bringing about an Ethiopian renaissance. 
“The visits that have occurred so far are giving us energy to do our work day and night. It also gives us an opportunity to provide a clear picture to foreigners or others who had the wrong perception of it.’’
He added that more than eight million metric tons of materials have been used on the dam so far and that the work is going well and will soon benefit Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia.
Capital asked why the officials in GERD were not very open to the media and did not give out much information.
“The way we have been going so far is very good, when information is needed we give it when there is a time to be clam we tend to keep quiet. Like the head of a house who administers his family by overcoming many challenges we are building GERD with some challenges. However problems do not last forever, they will be forgotten when it is finished,’’ he said.
According to Simegnew the true plan of the dam will be understood when Ethiopia completes it.
“When we divert the flow of the Nile river, many foreign media stated it would negatively impact other Blue Nile tributary countries but it will not and some others are still reporting that the construction of GERD has an impact on Egypt but we will show them that the dam will not affect Egypt or another country.”
“The Nile was just a song for Ethiopians but this generation has begun a project to get something from it, to get some power and to use the dam as a service that will attract tourists and we are happy to construct the dam for this purpose .’’
The GERD has been under construction since 2011. It is in the Benishangul-Gumuz Region of Ethiopia, about 15 km (9 mi) east of the Sudan border. At 6,450 MW, the dam will be the largest hydroelectric power plant in Africa when completed, as well as the 7th largest in the world. The main contractor is the Italian company Salini Costruttori, which also served as primary contractor for the Gilgel Gibe II, Gibe III and Tana Beles dams. The electro mechanical and other work is done by the state owned Metal and Engineering Cooperation.
