|
ADDIS ABABA
(Xinhua) -- Ethiopia’s flagship Chinese-built Hawassa
Industrial Park has proved successful in just less than a year as it
has attracted various world-class textile and apparel companies to
the east African country.
One among the renowned companies that
have shown interest in the Hawassa Industrial Park is PVH, a company
known for marketing diversified portfolio of brands including Calvin
Klein and Tommy Hilfiger. The company has already established its
first manufacturing industry in the Hawassa industrial park.
The industrial zone has so far
welcomed 18 companies that have already started operations inside
the industrial park. Six of them are presently exporting their
products to the international market.
The east African country has targeted
to generate 1 billion U.S. dollars annually once the park starts
operations at its full potential.
Built by China Civil Engineering
Corporation (CCECC), the Hawassa industrial park, located in
Ethiopia’s southern city of Hawassa, some 275km south of the capital
Addis Ababa, was initially completed in a record time of nine months
back in July 2016.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam
Desalegn, speaking at a ceremony marking the park’s official
operation commencement on Monday, said that his country’s favorable
business environment is drawing a growing number of foreign
investors and huge Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).
The premier further asserted that the
Hawassa industrial park can be seen as a “foundation in Ethiopia’s
ambition to be the manufacturing hub of the African continent.”
The Ethiopian Investment Commission
has also announced its plan to replicate the best lessons obtained
from the Hawassa Industrial Park to other parks being built across
the country.
The Ethiopian government highly
believes that the development of industrial parks is the major path
for the country to realize its vision of becoming manufacturing
powerhouse in the African continent.
In this regard, the country has
budgeted more than one billion U.S. dollars for the construction of
industrial parks in the second five-year Growth and Transformation
Plan (GTP-II) period, effective from 2015 to 2020.
The Ethiopian government expects the
development of industrial parks throughout the country would
increase the share of the manufacturing sector to the country’s
agriculture sector dominated GDP, in which the manufacturing sector
stood at only 5 percent for many years.
After proved successful by attracting
PVH to the flagship Hawassa industrial park as an anchor company,
the Ethiopian Investment Commission has planned to replicate this
plan further to Mekele and Kombolcha industrial parks that are
expected to be operational by the end of this month.
Mekelle and Kombolcha Industrial
Parks, located some 783km and 252km north of the capital Addis Ababa
respectively, are also under construction by Chinese companies.
The Ethiopian Investment Commission is
eyeing on Vanity Fair and H&M, among other companies, to make
establishment in the two parks that are dedicated to the textile and
apparel sector.
|
