Construction of Bae’her agro-processioning park commences

After a one-year delay, the construction of Bae’her agro-processioning industrail park has been launched in western Tigray zone, Tigray regional state.

The construction of the park was started this month at a cost of 1.4 billion birr (approximately $51.9 million), said Angesom Gebremeskel, manager of the regional state’s industry parks corporation.

The first phase of the park, to be erected on 258 hectares of land will be completed within a year. After the completion of the first phase, the construction of 120 sheds, which are parts of the second phases will continue, he added.

Angesom said the agro-processing sheds planned to be established in the parks took into consideration the needs of investors as well as agricultural and dairy products in western and north western Tigray zones

Design of the park, which is being built by Sur Construction PLC with a budget allocated by the regional state, was prepared by an Indian firm called Mahindra, he said.

Once completed, 85 percent of the park will be given for local investors, while the remaining will be distributed for foreign investors.

Angesom further said that another integrated agro-processing industrial park will be built in southern Raya zone.

This time Mekelle University was awarded to prepare the design of the park, he said.

According to ENA, a cornerstone for Bae’her processioning industrial park was laid by Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn last February.

Ethiopia announces $375mln “Light for All” program

Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn today announced a 375 million US dollars “Light for All” program to raise access to energy in the country.

The program, which will be implemented over the coming seven-year with stated sum secured from the World Bank, is expected to reach rural areas with no access to electricity.

In addition to increasing access to energy, the program will contribute a lot in creating employment opportunities for the youth, said the Premier.

PM Hailemariam called on all pertinent bodies to do their level best for the successful implementation of the program as per scheduled.

Dr Eng Sileshi Bekele, Minister of Water, Irrigation and Electricity, for his part said the program will help to reach all rural parts of the country, especial those that have no access to electricity.

Moreover, it will help to sustainablly address problems of power cut in urban areas, the Minister added.

Similarly, Ethiopia’s national electrification program- implementation road map -was also revealed today.

The program will allow rural areas to get access to electricity from solar, geothermal and other sources of energy.

Ethiopia rejects Egypt’s desire for implementation of colonial era treaty

On the basis of the principle of fair use, Ethiopia has the right to utilize the Nile river without causing a significant harm on the lower riparian countries, said the Ministry of Water, Irrigation and Electricity (MoWIE).

Dr Eng. Sileshi Bekele, Minister of Water, Irrigation and Electricity told journalists today that the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) which Ethiopia has been building on the Nile river would benefit all the three countries.

Ethiopia’s ongoing efforts to use the Nile river for electric power generation will not reduce the water supply available to both Sudan and Egypt, he said.

On the other hand, he said “it is crucial for us to use the river for power generation so as to ensure the socio-economic benefits of our continuously growing number of people.”

Ethiopia honors the Declaration of Principles signed between leaders of the three countries, he said, adding a study on the impact of the dam has not yet been completed.

Ethiopia, which contributes 86% of the Nile water, doesn’t accept Egypt’s stance and desire for the implementation of 1959 colonial era treaty regarding the utilization of the Nile water, the Minister underscored.

Ethiopia has already tabled its filling strategy of the dam’s reservoir to the countries, he said, adding it could accept if the firm tasked to conduct the study comes up with different and beneficial filling process.

The tripartite meeting between Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt will continue to build mutual trust and confidence among the countries, he said.

Commenced six years ago, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam is 63 percent complete.

Upon completion, the dam will be Africa’s largest with 6,450 MW installed power generating capacity. It is being built for an estimated cost of 4.7 billion US dollars.

Talks underway to establish gold refinery company in Ethiopia

Talks are underway with China Gold Group, a state-owned enterprise in China’s gold industry, to establish a gold refinery plant in Ethiopia.

The government of Ethiopia has been taking various measures following the decline in foreign exchange earnings from gold export.

Recently, it reduced the amount of gold that artisanal miners could supply to the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) to 50 grams from 150 grams.

Moreover, it resumed buying gold from suppliers with the highest transaction value in the month, a system which it suspended six years ago.

Ethiopia pays 250 million US dollars to refine 250 gram or five kilograms of gold in Switzerland.

According to Tewodros Geberegziabher, State Minister of Mines, Petroleum and Natural Gas, the establishment of the refinery plant would help Ethiopia save the foreign exchange which it has been paying for Switzerland.

Two runners die in Great Ethiopian Run road race

Around 45,000 people competed in Sunday’s race, including Olympic 5,000 meter champion Vivian Cheruiyot of Kenya and former world half-marathon champion Lornah Kiplagat of the Netherlands.

The Great Ethiopian Run was started by the country’s distance-running great Haile Gebrselassie in 2001 and is the largest road race in Africa.
Organizers say two competitors have died in the 10-kilometer (6.2-mile) Great Ethiopian Run road race.

Organizers didn’t identify the two runners or give causes of death. Police said medical experts suspect heart problems could be the cause of both deaths.

On their Facebook page, organizers say: “The two runners collapsed and were taken to a hospital but they didn’t make it. We will provide more details in the coming days.”

Eyewitness Mikias Desalegn says one of the runners collapsed moments after finishing the race and was “rushed into an ambulance.”

Around 45,000 people competed in Sunday’s race, including Olympic 5,000 meter champion Vivian Cheruiyot of Kenya and former world half-marathon champion Lornah Kiplagat of the Netherlands.

The Great Ethiopian Run was started by the country’s distance-running great Haile Gebrselassie in 2001 and is the largest road race in Africa.

Addis Ababa gets a needed navigation app on Android

There is a new local free mobile application for smartphone users to navigate in the capital better named Adrasha.io. The user friendly application is intended to be the first web and mobile based application in Ethiopia providing an in-depth turn by turn direction for those looking for detailed information on hotels, restaurants, businesses and residences.

The application utilizes the new blue signs the city administration has placed around the city. The Adrasha developers collected house and building address numbers and street names and built a database of over 60,000 location geo-tagged businesses, residences and public service areas in several woredas throughout Addis Ababa.

Its purpose is to serve areas not normally covered by larger service providers like Google and Mapquest. It aims to serve mainly tourists that are coming from abroad and often find limitation on how to fully experience Ethiopia and the diplomatic core. It also plans to serve the private sector where the application can be utilized by Meter Taxi Services, Delivery Companies (companies like Delivery Addis and others), Logistic Companies (DHL and other small companies) and emergency services (firefighters).

“What we have done is geo-tagged locations and put those locations in a database which can be searched by categories, building names, business names or individual residential address. The application provides a solution for the ability for anyone to find any location in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.” Nolawi Tadesse, the communication director of the app, said. “It uses route optimization and provides realistic travel times and estimated time of arrival (ETAs) to destinations”.

He also added that “Adrasha’s navigation system increases the efficiency of road traffic Control, optimizes the operation of transport and freight vehicles, and eases accessibility for tourists and visitors”. It has its headquarters in the United States and its local partner is AZ Associates.

Adrasha.io has officially launched its bilingual (Amharic and English) app for Android on Google Play marketplace. The Adrasha app is available for and compatible with all mobile devices running Android 4.1 and higher. It will be available on the App Store for iOS in the next two months, according to the developers.

Source: The Reporter

New day!!

ከጣና ሃይቅ እስከ ጭስ አባይ ፏፏቴ ባለው የአባይ ወንዝ ዳርቻ ላይ ዓለም አቀፍ የማራቶን መሮጫ ሊሰራ ነው፡፡ ናይል ማራቶን የሚል ስያሜ የተሰጠው ይህ የመሮጫ ስፍራ በሀገር አቀፍ ደረጃ በየዓመቱ ለሚደረግ የማራቶን ሩጫ ውድድር እንዲያገለግል ታስቦ የሚሰራ ሲሆን የዲዛይን ጥናቱን ከባህርዳር ከተማ አስተዳደር ጋር በመሆን አባ የአርክቴክት ስራዎች ድርጅት ማጠናቀቁን የድርጅቱ ስራ አስኪያጅ አቶ አዲስ አዱኛ ተናግረዋል፡፡
ናይል ማራቶን ከሚሰጠው አገልግሎት በተጨማሪ ወደ ባህርዳር ከተማ የሚመጡ ቱሪስቶችን ቁጥር በከፍተኛ ደረጃ ይጨምራል ተብሎ ይጠበቃል፡፡ ሀገራችን ኢትዮጵያ ማራቶንን ጨምሮ በረጅም ርቀት የሩጫ ውድድር የሚታወቁ አትሌቶች ባለቤት ብትሆንም ለማራቶን የመሮጫ ስፍራ ባለመኖሩ ማግኘት የሚገባትን ጥቅም እያገኘች እንዳልሆነ የሚያብራሩት ስራ አስኪያጁ አቶ አዲስ ስራው በሚከናወንበት የወንዙ ዳርቻ እና በአጠቃላይ በፓርኩ ውስጥ የሚገኙ ብርቅዬ እንስሳትን ለመጎብኘት እድል የሚሰጥ መሆኑን ተናግረዋል፡፡
ሩጫው የሚጀመርበት የጣና ሃይቅ ዳርቻና የሚጠናቀቅበት የጭስ አባይ ፏፏቴ ልዩ መስህብ ያላቸው ስፍራዎች በመሆናቸው ተሳታፊዎች ውድድሩን የበለጠ እንዲወዱት የሚያደርግ ቦታ መሆኑም ተጠቁሟል፡፡ የባህርዳር ከተማ ከንቲባም በበኩላቸው ይህ ፕሮጀክት ለከተማዋ የበለጠ ድምቀት የሚሰጥ እና በቱሪዝም ዘርፍ ገቢ ለማግኘት የሚረዳ በመሆኑ የከተማ አስተዳደሩ ከፍተኛ ትኩረት ሰጥቶ ለማከናወን በዝግጅት ላይ መሆኑን ተናግረዋል፡፡ እንዲሁም ልዩ ልዩ ዘመናዊ ድልድዮችም የግንባታው አካል እንደሚሆኑ ተጠቁሟል፡፡
ምንጭ፡ዛሚ ኤፍኤም