The Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed is scheduled to inaugurate the Chinese-built Adama Industrial Park Sunday, an Ethiopian official said on Thursday.
Adama Industrial Park, located about 99 km southeast of the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, was constructed by China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation.
Speaking to Xinhua, Mekonen Hailu, Communications Director of the Ethiopia Investment Commission, said the industrial park was built with input from modern construction technology and is expected to create job opportunities for thousands of residents.
"Adama Industrial Park will be one more important addition in the government's strategy to boost Ethiopia's manufacturing prospects, through labor intensive sectors such as textile and garments," said Hailu.
He also said the Ethiopian government hoped that with the commissioning of industrial parks, knowledge transfer would be effected from companies investing inside the industrial park to their Ethiopian labor force.
The commissioning of Adama Industrial Park is expected to increase the number of operational industrial parks in Ethiopia to five, thereby helping the Ethiopian government's strategy of increasing the GDP share of the manufacturing sector in the east African country from the current five percent to around 22 percent by 2020.
Ethiopia plans to increase the number of operational industrial parks from the current four to around 30 by 2025, as part of its efforts to make the country a light manufacturing hub and lower-middle-income economy in the same period.
