However, this might not last for long if the government keeps importing cement for its own use, the experts predicted.
The government started delivering the 250,000ql of cement, out of the 1.5 million quintals it had ordered from Pakistan, to different construction sites nationwide from Djibouti Port, on Wednesday, January 5, 2011.
An agreement was signed about a month ago between the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development (MoFED) and Maple Leaf Cement Factory to import the Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC), which is mainly used for the construction of heavy-duty structures like bridges and highways. Maple, a Pakistan based company that was established in 1956, is to supply the cement at a monthly rate of between 500,000ql and 750,000ql.
The Merchandise Wholesale and Import Trade Enterprise (MWITE) is in charge of distributing the cement, which will be transported from the port by the Maritime and Transit Service Enterprise (MTSE), to the government's construction projects. For the transportation, the latter has employed 625 trucks, each with the capacity to carry 400ql.
"The cement will be delivered to the respective sites it has been allocated to, in about 12 days," Yimam Mohammed, general manager of the MWITE, told Fortune.
The cement's destinations include construction sites where large government projects are underway in Asaita, Afar Regional State; Kombolcha, Amhara Regional State; Adama, Oromia Regional State; and Addis Abeba, according to the general manager of the MWITE, which was established in 1993 when the Ethiopian Domestic Distribution Corporation (EDDC) merged with the Ethiopian Import Export Corporation (EIEC).
The construction of major infrastructure, such as roads, railway lines, and dams, is planned by the government as part of the GTP. It plans to increase the road network from 49,000km to 136,000km, build a 2,000km railway line, and construct housing units to increase the current number of 213,000 to 700,000 within the next five years.
Cement production in the country is handled by eight companies, which has been producing a combined 2.6 million tonnes annual, as of May 2009, according to research conducted by Access Capital Services. The consumption of cement has increased by an average of close to 30pc over the four years before 2009, according to the research.
State owned Mugher Cement; Messebo, owned by the Endowment Fund for the Rehabilitation of Tigray (EFFORT); and National Cement, a private company; are the top three producers with a combined total capacity of two million tonnes.
The importation of cement will reduce the government's huge demand on the private sector, according to experts in the construction sector.
Last week, the price of a quintal of cement reached close to 430 Br, from 390 Br the previous week.
However, this might not last for long if the government keeps importing cement for its own use, the experts predicted.
Another 170,000ql are being loaded in Pakistan to be transported here, according to Yimam.
No comments:
Post a Comment