Ethiopia to inaugurate Chinese-built industrial parks

ADDIS ABABA — Ethiopia is set to inaugurate two industrial parks built by Chinese firms next month, the state-owned Ethiopian Industrial Parks Development Corporation (IPDC) said Friday.

The Mekelle Industrial Park and the Kombolcha Industrial Park are being built by China Communications Construction Company (CCCC) and China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) respectively.

The Mekelle Industrial Park and the Kombolcha Industrial Park, located 783 kilometers and 252 km north of Addis Ababa respectively, are both dedicated to the textile and apparel sector and have a combined construction cost of $250 million.

Ethiopia has ambitions to be a textile and apparel manufacturing hub in Africa earning the country $1 billion by 2020 and providing ample employment opportunity for its estimated 45 million workforce.

"There are about 10 ongoing or completed industrial park projects with plans to inaugurate four other industrial parks by end of 2017," said IPDC CEO Sisay Gemechu.