Ethiopia plans to increase operational industrial parks from 5 to 30

Ethiopia has taken a decision to commission the Chinese built Debre Berhan industrial park by the end of February. Amhara Mass Media Agency reported that the construction of the park is likely to create job opportunities for around 1,000 Ethiopians once the operation is commenced.

Debre Berhan industrial park, which is constructed by China Communications Construction Company, is sprawled across an overall area of 75 hectares of land. It will have eight industrial sheds ready to accommodate prospective investors once it’s fully commissioned. According to Ethiopia Industrial Park Development Corporation’s Chief Executive Officer, Lelise Neme, the East African country targets to commission six industrial parks including the much-talked Debre Berhan industrial park by July this year, as reported by Xinhua.

“Ethiopia has invested around 1.3 billion U.S. dollars in the construction of around a dozen industrial parks, which it sees as a key strategy of achieving Ethiopia's industrial ambitions,” Lelise Neme added.

With Ethiopia attracting large-scale investment in the export-import-oriented manufacturing sector, especially from Chinese firms, the country sees improving the efficiency and speed of the logistics sector as key to meet national manufacturing revenue goals. The country plans to increase the number of operational industrial parks from the current five to around 30 by 2025, as part of its efforts to make the country a light manufacturing hub and lower-middle-income economy in the same period.

The five industrial parks built by the government are Hawassa, Kombolcha, Bole Lemi, Mekele and Adama industrial parks. Collectively the five state-owned industrial parks have currently created jobs to 45,000 Ethiopians.

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