Investors from Kunshan, a city in China’s Jiangsu province, planned to spend more than $500 million on a textile industrial park in Dire Dawa, a delegation led by Kunshan Mayor Du Xiaogang said after visiting the eastern city in early July 2019, New Business Ethiopia reported, citing Fana Broadcasting Corporate. The mayor said the investors had finished their preparations and would set up the park within two years.
Chinese investors already had stakes in several Ethiopian industrial parks, including the Eastern, Jimma and Arerti parks. Kedir Juhar, head of the Dire Dawa trade, industry and investment bureau, said the city would give the project all the support it needed. Lelise Neme, chief executive of the Ethiopian Industrial Parks Development Corporation, said the investment would create jobs and build links between universities and industry. Dire Dawa and Kunshan were expected to sign a sister-city agreement the following month.
At the same time, about 30 staff from Ethiopia’s industrial parks were attending a 10-day course on park management at a training center in Dire Dawa. The mayor said China was ready to share its experience to make the parks more productive.
Days earlier, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed told parliament that his government planned to privatize industrial parks as part of a wider sale of stakes in state-owned assets, including power stations, the telecom operator and Ethiopian Airlines. Including those still being built, Ethiopia had about 23 industrial parks at the time.
Sources: New Business Ethiopia