The massive campaign to
cleanse Addis Abeba from what the Administration calls an unprecedented
lawlessness will be headed by Mayor Brehane Deresse himself, disclosed reliable
sources. However, the coordinating committee is comprised of 10 agencies under
the Administration and members of the federal police.
The committee sees its role
in ensuring that those who have possessed plots illegally, built houses without
permits and broke into houses owned by the City Administration will be evicted
by force. Not only will this committee provide leadership, budget and logistics
to accomplish its target, but is also determined to punish its own staff “who
may have acted unethically” in the course of the campaign.
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Roads Budget
Request Doubles to 8.8b Br
The amount of
money the federal government is spending on the road construction
sector is growing considerably, with the Ethiopian Roads Authority
(ERA) projecting an expenditure of 8.8 billion Br during the
2007/2008 fiscal year. The Authority hopes that the federal
government would cover close to 73pc of the total spending. This is
almost twice the amount of the budget ERA has during the current
fiscal year.
ERA is planning
to finance the construction of 172 roads to be undertaken during the
next budget year close to 83 of them require the repairing and
upgrading of existing roads, building 26 new roads, as well as
construction of two major bridges on the rivers of Omo and Gibe.
Paying for new designs of 30 existing and 17 new roads is
incorporated in the budget.
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Al-Amoudi Grants
$20m to Clinton Found’n
Sheikh Mohammed
Ali Al-Amoudi has given a grant of 20 million dollars to the Clinton
Foundation on Friday, May 11, 2007, in order to support the latter’s
effort in fighting HIV/Aids in Ethiopia.
The Foundation,
established by former US President Bill Clinton in 2002, is known
for its knack in dealing with multinational drug companies producing
expensive medications, and makes these drugs available at cheaper
prices in developing countries. It had received 100 million dollars
from UNITAID, which raises its money from airlines levies in
participating countries, including France and England.
Sheikh Mohammed handed over the cheque to Mr Clinton in London, with
the commitment to finish the disbursement of the total amount in 10
years. He has agreed to give two million dollars every year, while
the cheque in the photo here is worth the first instalment for this
year, according to an aide of the Sheikh.
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Africans Suffer
Stalemate over EU Aviation Offer
Africa's
transport authorities failed to reach a common position on an offer from the
European Union (EU), when they closed their two-day ministerial on air
transport. Opened on Thursday, May 10, 2007, the ministerial was the third
conference since African countries passed what is known as the "Yamoussoukro
Declaration" in 1999, which opens their skies to each other. The agreement was
endorsed by heads of state the following year.
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NEWS
Playing Poker with
Big Boys
The WTO accession process allows Ethiopia and its member countries to
negotiate the entry conditions for the first. As part of the entry
conditions, it is expected that a number of WTO member countries will
insist that Ethiopia open its telecommunications sector to competition.
The final agreement with Ethiopia will be a binding one but has to first
be approved by all (not a majority) of its members.
Oil reserve depot
construction near Addis Abeba was halted due to complaints from Country Club
Developers, a real estate company controlling neighbouring plots that the depots
are dangerous.
The Oromia Regional State
reclaimed the 23ht plot that it originally granted the National Petroleum
Reservoir Depot Administration (NPRDA), promising the Administration another
plot elsewhere two years ago. The promise has yet to be realised.
The Development Bank of Ethiopia (DBE) approved a 151.2 million Br
loan on May 1, 2007, for the expansion of Awassa Textile Factory SC.
The Bank has communicated its decision to the Factory informing the
Management to sign the loan agreement.
“We have waited for more than a year to get this loan,” Awassa
Textile Factory CEO, Habib Narin, told Fortune.
The Addis Credit and Saving Institute (ACSI) managed to collect only
nine million Br of the 19 million Birr it was to be repaid by micro
and small scale enterprises in the 2006/07 budget year. With only
100 million Br of the planned 564.8 million Br in loans distributed,
the Institute’s loan disbursement performance for the budget year is
also lagging far behind schedule.
Buyer Refuses to
Take Ownership of Yerer Flour Factory
The Privatisation
and Public Enterprises Supervisor Agency (PPESA) will re-tender Yerer
Flour Factory SC as Anwar Abdulkadir, who won the tender to buy the
Factory for five million Birr in January this year, failed to take
ownership.
In March, PPESA
informed Anwar, the only bidder who showed interest in the Factory, of
its decision to award him the plant, but he refused to take over.
The first private
investment in the sugar sector is being made by Abdul Majeed Pardesi, a
Pakistani planning to invest 7.5 billion Br to develop a 70,000ht sugar
plantation with its own factory.
The investor received his
license from the Ethiopian Investment Agency (EIA) in November 2007. The Agency
directed Mr Pardesi to the Oromia Regional Investment Commission to acquire a
plot for his project.
The Cabinet of the Addis
Abeba City Caretaker Administration (AACCA) has decided to forgo its
discretionary role in the distribution of condominiums, and instead use raffles
to distribute them to buyers.
A Proclamation issued in
2005, during the time of former Mayor Arkebe Oqubay, gave the City Cabinet power
to decide on allocations of condo houses the city is financing to build.
The
recently formed Addis Abeba Employers Federation (AAEF) is comprised of
representatives from many of the leading businesses in the city and seeks to
address issues common to its members. Now requesting legal status, the
relationship between the capital's representative and the national body, the
Ethiopian Employers Federation (EEF), is questioned by many national members.
North Holding Investment Inc (Ethiopia Branch), an American
investment firm, is planning to construct a close to five billion
Birr cement factory in the Dejen Zone of the Amhara Regional State.
The company received its license from the Amhara Regional Investment
Commission almost nine months ago and will construct a factory with
an annual production capacity of 7.8 million tonnes of cement.
Funding Shortage Leads to Revision
of Gondar Hospital Design
The
Gondar Municipality will alter the design of the Gondar Referral Hospital due to
funding constraints. The design revision aims to bring down the cost of the
project to 70 million Birr, more than 100 million Birr lower than the original
projected cost.
The
Ethiopian Postal Service (EPS) is preparing to take over out of town mail
deliveries by assigning its own vehicles to offer the services to regional and
rural branches.
EPS has
obtained financial assistance for the purchase of four Mitsubishi Coaster buses
that have a 26 passenger capacity from the Universal Postal Union (UPU), the
United Nations’ (UN) postal service. EPS presented a project document to the UPU
on March 22, 2007. The UPU allocated three million Birr for the purchase of the
buses and is facilitating their delivery through the United Nations Development
Program (UNDP) office in Addis Abeba because it does not have an office in the
country.
Tesema
Mengeste, graduate from the Department of Economics at Addis Abeba University
(AAU) last year, receives a monthly net salary of 850 Br at one of the
government revenue collecting organisations in Addis Abeba. Tesema does not,
however, see this full amount as 100 Br is being sent to the Ministry of Revenue
(MoR) in compliance with the student cost sharing arrangement.
Tadelle
Yimer, controversial secretary general of the Ethiopian Employers Federation (EEF),
has opened Modern Hotel, built at a cost of 3.8 million Br, in Adama town.
Located
98Km east of Addis Abeba in Kebelle 11 of Adama Zone in the Oromia Regional
State, the Hotel was inaugurated last Saturday, May 5, 2007. Tadelle began this
venture jointly with his brother Yehualashet Asamenew, a member of the Ethiopian
Diaspora in the United States (US).
The
failure of a recent pedestrian overpass tender to receive any interested bidders
has prompted the Addis Abeba City Roads Authority (AACRA) to re-tender the
project. In addition, the Authority has also decreased the contractor
requirements from grade one companies to grade five and above.
By mutual
agreement made between the Board of Directors of the Addis Abeba Chamber of
Commerce and Sectoral Association (AACCSA) and Semunesh Dimitros, secretary
general, Semunesh has been released from her office as of May 1, 2007, AACCSA
disclosed.
Semunesh
was brought before the Board, which had voted, 10-one, the sole objector being
Eyesuswork Zafu, chairman of the Board, to terminate her term. The vote left her
with two choices.
African Women
Discriminated Against for High Level Positions
Unemployment rates for both men and women in Africa have remained largely
unchanged over the past decade, with women still maintaining lower levels at
7.6pc compared to men at 9.1pc, according to a report, Equality at Work:
Tackling the Challenges, by the International Labour Office (ILO) on May 10,
2007.
Mohammed
Awol, menzuma performer, and Anthony Brown, American baritone, delivered
diverse performances at the Italian Cultural Institute on Thursday, May 10,
2007. The event, sponsored by the United States (US) Embassy Public Affairs
Section, featured two singers of distinct cultural traditions each possessing a
faith based foundation.
