Mereja Forum

[AbyssiniaLady]

Peace, Stability Bearing Fruit in Development Activities in Somali Region: Chief Administrator



Mustafa Omer, President of Somali Regional State.



Addis Ababa January 31/2023/ENA/ The peace and stability that the people of Somali Region have been enjoying in recent years is significantly enhancing development activities, Somali Region Chief Administrator Mustefe said.

Somali Chief Administrator, Mustefe Mohammed told ENA that the current peace and stability in the region has contributed a lot to the development and the participation of the people after the reform.

Peace has been achieved in the region with the participation of the regional government as well as the people, he noted.

As a result, development plans have been formulated and are being implemented to alleviate the social and economic problems of the people.

According to him, participation in local development works has been reinforced as the people of the region achieved peace and stability.

The people of Somali region have made a significant contribution by building schools, providing hospitals equipment as well as building roads and bridges, the chief administrator stated.

Mustefe further noted that the contribution and participation of the residents of the region and natives living abroad is important for the implementation of the development plans.

“With the ongoing changes taking place in the region, public participation is increasing. This is because we have peace and the people have been enjoying stability. Thus, the development movement is gaining great support not only from the people of the region but also from the diaspora in particular in improving our hospitals and other infrastructure.”

The chief administrator lauded the encouraging participation of the people in various development works of social and economic importance.

The engagement in the ongoing development activities has shown the crucial role and capacity of the public.

In order to further strengthen the participation of the people and to improve the bureaucracy, the chief administrator pledged that the regional government would continue solving administrative challenges and adjusting its leadership.

Noting that the Somali region has untapped natural resources and favorable investment opportunities, Mustefe called on investors to exploit agriculture and other sectors.

“Our region is open for investment… The regional government will provide urgent support to investors. Therefore, we encourage business persons to come and invest in the region, especially in the field of manufacturing.”


https://www.ena.et/en/?p=42466

[AbyssiniaLady]

Amhara, Somali Regions Finalize Preparation to Meet Nat’l Plan of Wheat Export



President of the Somali Regional State Mustafa Muhumed Omer.


Addis Ababa February 13/2023/ENA/ Amhara and Somali regions said they have finalized preparations to intensify wheat production and achieve national plan of wheat export.

It is to be recalled that Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed launched the national summer wheat production in Somali regional state in September 2022.






During the occasion, the premier noted that Ethiopia was entering a new chapter that will change its image.

Stating that Ethiopia had ceased importing wheat since last year, Abiy pointed out that Ethiopia had plans to export millions of quintals of wheat.

Accordingly, Ethiopia has successfully started exporting wheat yesterday.

Premier Abiy underscored that Oromia, Amhara, Somali and SNNPR have done remarkable jobs to meet the national wheat export plan.

Somali Region Chief Administrator, Mustofe Mohamed told ENA that the start of wheat exporting will change Ethiopia’s dependency on aid.

Mentioning that exporting wheat has brought about respect for the country, besides increasing foreign earnings, Mustofe stated that the region will continue expanding the already started wheat production for export.

He pointed out that the region has planned to mitigate drought and export 2 million quintals of wheat.

To achieve the regional goal, the Chief Administrator said 800,000 hectares of land is being cultivated while 10,000 hectares of land is under cultivation through irrigation.

The chef administrator added that agricultural machines will be provided to farmers in order to transform it into mechanization.

Amhara Region Agriculture Bureau Head, Hailemariam Kefyalew said that the achievements made by the government on various areas will also be repeated in exporting wheat.




Works are underway to repeat the success of chick peas on wheat export, he added.

According to him, the region has planned to harvest a total of seven million quintals of wheat, five and two millions quintals from winter and summer respectively.

Hailemariam stated that the region is working to register achievements in the agricultural sector of the region thereby contributing to the national development efforts.


https://www.ena.et/en/?p=42886

[AbyssiniaLady]

Media Personnel Visit Nation's First Free Trade Zone







Addis Ababa March 29/2023 (ENA) Local media personnel drawn from various media institutions have visited the Dire Dawa Free Trade Zone, Ethiopia's first free trade zone.

The aim of the visit organized by Ministry of Government Communication Service is to show to the personnel the activities at the country's first trade zone since its inauguration in August, 2021.

The Diri Dhaba Dire Dawa Free Trade Zone, which includes an industrial park and a dry port, would improve trade activities, create job opportunities, enhance transfer of knowledge, and reduce logistics cost.






The free trade zone is expected to contribute toward facilitating the implementation of trading under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

The government is working to attract more investors to the strategic free trade zone with the objective of facilitating logistics and import-export trade and boost the economy of the country.

The fact that Diri Dhaba Dire Dawa City is an industrial village, possessing dry port, railway, land and air transport makes it an ideal center for a free trade zone.






The Diri Dhaba Dire Dawa Free Trade Zone, Ethiopia's first free trade zone, covers an area of ​​4,000 hectares and includes the Dire Dawa Industrial Park and a dry port.


https://www.ena.et/web/eng/w/eng_2639484




Somalis call their city Diri Dhaba not Dire Dawa, and Shiniile not Sitti Zone.

[AbyssiniaLady]

WIH, Sinoma Construction cement partnership in Melka Jebdu Industrial Park







By Staff Reporter - April 17, 2023



National WIH Building Materials Holding Company, an Ethiopian and Chinese joint venture (JV) company and the Chinese state owned construction giant Sinoma (Suzhou) Construction, pen an engineering procurement construction (EPC) contract for a cement plant that will be part of over half billion dollars in investment at the Melka Jebdu Industrial Park investment.

During the signing ceremony held on Tuesday April 11, 2023, at Skylight Hotel, Bizuayehu Tadele, Chairperson of the National WIH Building Materials Holding Company, said that the cement plant that will be erected in Melka Jebdu Industrial Park, 19km west of Dire Dawa, which is 510 km of Addis Ababa, will consume USD 243 million.

Currently, the Melka Jebdu Industry Park which houses a total of 106 hectares of space is expected to add steel and lime industries to its portfolio besides the cement factory.






In total, the National WIH Building Materials Holding Company will inject an investment of USD 540 million at the park, which is close to the sea ports.

“We selected the area due to its competitive advantage for the export market and it also has enormous quality resources for cement production. Melka Jebdu is connected with the Ethio Djibouti railway line and it is close for ports in Djibouti and Berbera,” the Chairperson, who also leads the conglomerate, East Africa Holding (EAH), said.

According to the statement of the company, the park will have a capacity to produce three million metric tons of cement per annum, 1,000 metric tons of lime per day and 700, metric tons of rebar. The facility will also accommodate a prefabricated concrete factory that is expected to play an instrumental role in alleviating the housing challenges that the country faces.

Chaltu Sani, Minister of Urban and Infrastructure, said that in the ten year development plan the government targets to construct 4.4 million residential houses in urban areas.

She said that the coming of these kinds of huge input suppliers is crucial to elevate the government’s goal and stabilize the market, “We will provide full support for the project.”

On their recent JV partnership, West International Holding, a subsidiary of China West Cement Limited, a Hong Kong Stock Exchange listed company, and National Cement, a subsidiary of EAH, have been investing in several industries.

Currently under the JV Company, they are developments in the Lemi Industrial Park that is located 130 km north of the capital in Amhara region.

The Lemi project is said to consume USD 600 million. Currently, the construction of the cement plant at Lemi has attained 75 percent completion with the civil works to be fully accomplished within the next two months.

Bizuayehu signaled that the cement factory at Lemi will be fully commissioned for work by the beginning of 2024.
He said that currently the prefabricated houses and concrete factories that are installed at Lemi have reached the test stages, while the gypsum factory will start production by the end of this year.

Sinoma (Suzhou) Construction, which entered the Ethiopian market about a decade ago under EPC project for Dangote Cement, is popular in the development of similar facilities in other parts of the world.






The company has also worked with WIH on huge investments in the Africa and Asia cement industries, for the past over two decades.
WIH is also known for its investments on cement, glass, logistics, prefabricated, and other construction input production. It is also one of the pioneers to be involved on dry processing cement production and has similar plants in five African countries.

The Ethiopian cement facilities is also said to be one of the biggest in the continent when production is kick started.
The JV company has targeted to invest USD 2.2 billion in the manufacturing sectorin the coming few years.

https://www.capitalethiopia.com/2023/04 ... trial-park

Good for Somalis and Somali Regional State.

[AbyssiniaLady]

“We selected the area due to its competitive advantage for the export market and it also has enormous quality resources for cement production. Melka Jebdu is connected with the Ethio Djibouti railway line and it is close for ports in Djibouti and Berbera,” the Chairperson, who also leads the conglomerate, East Africa Holding (EAH), said.

Somalis need to realize the opportunity and encourage mining investors to invest in Somali State, Somali land, which is the biggest State is endowed with most valuable mineral resources in the entity called Ethiopia, Shiniile Zone is rich in minerals.