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Agency Introduced New Government Procurement Standards

The Ethiopian Procurement and Property Administration Agency (FPAA) announced 224 new standards in relation to asset purchases by federal and regional government institutions. The Agency issued the new standards to minimize wastage of government money on purchase and fixing of assets by government agencies. The new standards introduced by the Agency will take effect in two weeks time.

“The standards will be effective immediately, after each government institution receives the list,” said Tsegaye Abebe, director general of the Agency, at the meeting held with regional government officials on Thursday, March 07, 2013, at the Ministry of Finance & Economic Development.

The Agency has conducted research on the items purchased by the federal government agencies and five regional states,last year. The finding of the research, which took six months, indicated, almost all of the items purchased did fulfill international standards. Read more

LG Ethiopia Launched Mobile After-sales Service Center

LG Electronics and Metro PLC launched a mobile after-sales service center in Ethiopia through the “Care and Delight” bus on Wednesday March 27, 2013. The two companies has invested 2 million birr on the Mobile repair center.

“LG has always placed customer satisfaction at the core of its initiatives,” stated Riyadh Yusuf, Marketing Manager of Metro Plc, speaking at the launching ceremony.

The mobile service center aims to save customers time and effort by bringing after-sales service facilities to their doorsteps free of cost.

The bus is equipped with a work station where technicians work on products customers fetch in to be serviced. The bus will also be powered by electricity generated from the LG solar cell battery system installed on the roof of the vehicle, to show LG's environmental responsibility.

Also speaking at the launching ceremony was Abdullahi Abubaker, Owner of Metro PLC, stated that, the new service will help build f…

Bahir Dar University Awarded IT Infrastructure Development Projects

Ethiopia's Bahir Dar University launched a 30 million Br Information Technology infrastructure development on Friday, March 29, 2013, for two of its new campuses.

The projects for each campus were, awarded to Neuro Net PLC and Symbol Technology PLC, respectively, each for 15 million Ethiopian Birr.

Bahir Dar University is already in the process of undertaking a 68 million Ethiopian Birr IT network infrastructure development project, since 2011, for its old campuses. These projects, undertaken by the Information Network Security Agency (INSA), are scheduled for completion in June 2013.

The required softwares for the project was developed by the System Design & Development Case Team, a branch to the Information & Strategic Communications office.

Bahir Dar University was established in 2000, integrated from the former Bahir Dar Polytechnic and Academy of Pedagogy, which were established in 196…

Karuturi Global to Borrow from Sovereign Fund for its Ethiopian Investment

Indian based Karuturi Global Ltd., the world's largest rose grower, sold its firs produce from its plantation in Ethiopia. The company is also going to solicit funding from sovereign wealth fund for further investment in East Africa. Karuturi has produced more that 20,000 metric tons of corn in the last quarter of 2012 that sold for USD 6.5 million in Ethiopia, Sai Ramakrishna Karuturi, Managing Director told Bloomberg. The harvest from its plantation in western Ethiopia, showed the project was “not a disaster” after floods destroyed a 60,000- ton corn crop in September 2011, he said.

The company has already secure loan from unidentified fund and the money will be advanced by the end of April and invested in Ethiopian projects as well as Kenyan flower farms, according to Karuturi.

The project to grow and process crops including cereals, sugar, palm oil and vegetables has “good support” from senior Ethiopian officials, Karuturi said. The leasing of an …

ESLSE to Introduce SMS Notification Service for Importers

The Ethiopian Shipping & Logistics Services Enterprises has installed a new automated notification software that will help to notify customers of the arrival of goods at the dry port, via text message. The software, called CTTS, will automatically send a text message to customers after registering the arrival of the shipments into the ESLSE system.

The Enterprise has been provided with a dedicated server by ethio-telecom, for this particular service. The state owned enterprises are working on a deal for monthly service fees, in order to launch the system within few weeks time.

This is one of a series of actions the Enterprise has taken to provide cargo tracking information, following complaints from customers about the whereabouts of their shipments. Such complaints were especially rampant after problem in the Multi-modal Transport System which caused congestion and delays in the delivery of shipments.

Lac…

Dangote Industries Applied for Mining License in Ethiopia

Dangote Industries PLC applied for silica exploration license in Ethiopia. Silica is the major raw material for glass manufacturing. Dangote applied for the mining license to establish a glass manufacturing plant.

Dangote has also commenced work on cement manufacturing plant in Ethiopia. The cement factory, located in Mugher town, will have a production capacity of 1.5 tons per annum.

The Ethiopian Ministry of Mines previously suspended accepting applications for minerals exploration licenses for more than a year, however, the Ministry has resumed accepting applications two weeks ago.

According to Bacha Fuji, public relations head with the Ministry, told The Reporter, in addition to Dangote Industries, five other foreign and local companies have also applied for minerals exploration licenses. An Indian company, Allied Chemicals PLC, applied for iron ore exploration license, a company established by Ethiopian and German investors, Rusf Gladwun…

Ethiopia’s Aquarius Aviation to Buy Two Cessna Aircrafts

Ethiopia's Aquarius Aviation PLC concluded contract with the American Cessna Aircraft Company, to purchase two Cessna Caravan airplanes for USD 3.2. The planes which have a 39 seat-capacity are expected to be delivered within a year.

When the agreement is finalized in the coming month, Aquarius will be expected to pay 30 percent upfront, according to Frehiwot Tessema, general manager of Aquarius Aviation.

Aquarius, previously known as Aberdair, changed its name after confusion was created in the market, with people mistaking it for the Kenyan ‘Aberdair Ltd'.

“Some people thought it was a branch of the Kenyan company and Aberdair Ltd also tried to take advantage of this, by claiming that we were their branch,” added Frehiwot.

Currently, Aquarius has four chartered airplanes with up 16 seat capacity for its domestic flight services. Three of its airplanes are currently under contract for one year by differ…

List of Ethiopian Universities and Colleges

Ethiopian Universities and Colleges List and Links Addis Ababa University Admas University College Arba Minch University City University College (Zegha Business College) Dilla University Ethiopian Management Institute Gondar College of Medical Sciences Grace College of Business and Computer Science Graduate School of Telecommunications and Information Technology Haramaya University (Alemaya) Hawassa University (Debub University) Infonet College Jimma University Mekelle Institute of Technology Mekelle University Saint Mary's University College Unity University College Wollega University Yenegew Sew University College

Sebastopol to Build Ethiopia’s Biggest Cinema Complex

Sebastopol Entertainment PLC is planning to build a a two-tower, four-story multiplex in Arada District. Sebastopol has acquired a plot of land from the city administration for the construction of the towers for seven million Birr.

Sebastopol has paid 30pc of the total lease price as a down payment when it acquired the land in February, according to Tewodros Teshome, manager of Sebastopol Entertainment. Sebastopl hired Chartered Structural Consulting Engineers (CSC) PLC for the design of the buildings for 310,000Br. The construction of the tower is estimated to cost 50 million Br and construction will begin in June 2013.

The tower will house multiple cinema screens, entertainment center, children play grounds and food court. The building will also have a film studio that will be able to accommodate different setting equipments film makers may require, Tewodros said.

Sebastopolis expected to complete construct…

Indian Companies Negotiating to Book a Pavilion in Exhibition Center

The Indian Trade Promotion Organization is to book one pavilion of the the Addis Abeba Exhibition Center, for the forthcoming 18th Addis Abeba Chamber of Commerce & Sectoral Association (AACCSA) International Trade Fair.

The Indian Trade Promotion Organization is still in negotiation with the AACCSA and both parties expect to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in August, Gashaw Abate, trade investment promotion director at the AACCSA, told Fortune.

“Since the number of companies attending the exhibition from India is increasing every year, we should have separate space,” Parmod Rai Sood, manager of the Indian Trade Promotion Organization told Fortune.

The Indian Trade Promotion Organization was also awarded by the association for participating with largest number of companies after Italy in the 17th International Trade Fair, that took place two weeks ago. The organization has brought 44 companies to …