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Although it was a difficult time due to COVID-19 and internal challenges, Ethiopia had successfully completed and inaugurated flagship national development projects during the previous year, 2020.
The successful completion of the first filling phase of GERD, the openings of the Bahir Dar Industrial Park, Dire Dawa Industrial Park, Pan Sheger Factory, as well as destination development projects such as Entoto Park, Sheger Beautification Park are some of development feats achieved during 2020.
Additionally, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (Ph.D.) ‘Dine for Ethiopia’ initiative was launched, which would make three beautification projects a reality in Gorgora, Wonchi and Koisha.
In late July, Ethiopia announced the successful completion of the initial filling phase of the Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), a flagship power plant that began in 2011. As a result, the dam has seized 4.9 billion cubic meters of water only two weeks later. its height reached 560 meters.
Sheger Bread Factory, the largest factory in Addis Ababa with the potential to make two million loaves of bread every day, also became operational on June 26, 2020. During the inauguration, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said that “the completion of the Sheger bread factory in ten months is a symbol of our path to prosperity. “
In addition to contributing to food security by providing loaves of bread at an affordable price, it was announced that the Sheger Bread factory would create more than 3,400 jobs for Addis Ababa residents with more than 900 million Birr.
The opening of the Entoto and Sheger parks was also one of the major achievements of the previous year. The parks have already come into operation with various indoor and outdoor facilities, including sports centers, libraries, restaurants and cafes.
The opening of the Bahr Dar and Dire Dawa industrial parks was also the present of 2020, and is expected to create jobs for more than 30,000 citizens and boost the country’s exports. During his two-day visit to the city of Bahir Dar, the capital of Amhara state, Prime Minister Dr. Abiy Ahmed inaugurated the Bahir Dar Industrial Park on October 7, 2020.
During the inauguration, it was indicated that the park was built with 53 million dollars and rests on a land of 75 hectares with 8 sheds. When fully operational, the Bahir Dar Industrial Park is expected to create jobs for 10,000 citizens.
On October 29, 2020, during his one-day visit to eastern Ethiopia, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (Ph.D.) also inaugurated the Dire Dawa Industrial Park, which has the capacity to create jobs for 20,000 citizens.
The Dire Dawa Industrial Park, built with an outlay of 150 million dollars with 15 work curtains, rests on a land area of 150 hectares.
The prime minister also officially launched “Dine for Ethiopia” in late August to mobilize funds to build beautification projects for Koisha, Gorgora and Wonchi in the states of Nations, Nationalities and Peoples of the South, Amhara and Oromia, respectively, to raise 3,000 million Birr.
These projects are successors to Unity, Sheger and Entoto beautification initiatives planned to expand the country’s tourist destinations by exploiting the potential available. Following the call, Ethiopians are contributing to these projects and more than 1 billion birr have been pledged so far.
Recently, on December 24, 2020, the Addis Ababa city administration and investors operating in the city announced to contribute 390 million Birr, while the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia contributed 1.1 billion Birr to the “Dine for the Nation” projects.
As of the end of October, the Ethiopian diaspora also contributed more than $ 280,000 to the projects, while hundreds of companies are contributing millions.
Ethiopia also successfully launched its second remote sensing satellite on December 22, 2020, ET-SMART-RSS. ET-SMART-RSS is a high resolution earth observation nano-satellite, which is the successor to Ethiopia’s first satellite, ETRSS-1, launched on December 20, 2020.
(Source The Ethiopian Herald)
