The Development Bank of Ethiopia (DBE) approved last Tuesday a 1.52 billion birr loan to Habesha Cement.
The company had sought from the bank 70 percent of the fund it need for setting up a cement factory in the country.
The bank is currently drafting the loan agreement and it is expected that the parties will sign the deal next week.
The annual production capacity of Habesha’s first factory is projected to be 1.4 million tonnes of cement a year, according to Mesfin Abi, CEO of the company.
Habesha Cement has so already secured more than 550 million birr capital which amounts close to thirty percent of the overall investment outlay required for the project, Mesfin said.
Habesha Cement signed a 79 million dollar agreement last December with Northern Holding Industries (NHI), a Chinese firm for the construction of the plant on 31.6-hectares of land at Holeta in the Oromia Regional State.
The construction of Habesha’s cement plant was originally scheduled to be completed in 22 months, but the NHI has promised to complete it in 20 months, Mesfin said.
Mugher Cement, the largest cement factory in Ethiopia, produces 800, 000 tonnes a year. When its current expansion project is completed, Mugher is expected to produce 1.4 million tonnes of cement a year.
Source: The Reporter
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