Eastern Industrial Park (EIP), one of the biggest industrial parks in Ethiopia built by Chinese companies, is said has created 22,110 jobs for Ethiopians.
This is indicated by the Chinese Ambassador to Ethiopia, Zhao Zhiyuan, who visited EIP today. He indicated that more than 132 companies are operating in EIP. “Today I visit the Eastern Industrial Park, which is a successful example of China-Ethiopia cooperation. More than 132 companies operate here. This cooperation creates nearly 22110 local jobs and promotes Ethiopian home-grown industrial development. Applaud for our joint efforts,” he twitted.
Eastern Industrial Park is located in Dukem town on the way to Bishoftu from the capital Addis Ababa. It is the first industrial park in Ethiopia initially named as Eastern Industry Zone when introduced initially around the year 2007 as a joint venture between an Ethiopian investor and Chinese.
The growth of Dukem town dramatically changed between the years 2008 and 2013 following the development of Eastern Industry Zone (EIZ) and this continued between the years 2013 and 2019 particularly infill developments in terms of residential development, according to a research paper by Girum Sisay Alemu, entitled, “An investigation of urban expansion land use land covers dynamics: The case of Dukem town, Oromia Special Zone”.
“Dukem town confronted high rapid increase in population due to establishment of industries Eastern Industrial Zone and manufacturing and commuters to Addis Ababa city,” the paper stated.
“The growth of capital Addis Ababa outwards and the existence of Oromia Special Zone surrounding the city necessitated integrated planning as developments of the city and regions. However the two regions have independent plans so such independent or uncooperative decisions will result in conflicts like the conflicts happened between the residents of the two regions over land and which brought political and socioeconomic frustration in the country. Therefore, the government should respond to integrated regional development plan with a coordination of developments and cooperation between the capital Addis Ababa city and Oromia Special Zone (OSZ) in general and specifically Dukem town,” Girum recommended in his paper.
It is currently fully owned by a Chinese investor who has been sub-leasing to other investors. Eastern Industry Park is one amongst and the largest holding more than 500 hectares of land. Currently there are over a dozen and half industry parks across Ethiopia including those owned by the Government of Ethiopia and administered by Ethiopian Industrial Parks Development Corporation, and a few owned by private companies.
All together the industrial parks in the country have created a total of some 83,000 jobs for Ethiopians generating export income of over $870 million so far.
Today I visit the Eastern Industrial Park, which is a successful example of China-Ethiopia cooperation. More than 132 companies operate here. This cooperation creates nearly 22110 local jobs and promotes Ethiopian home-grown industrial development. Applaud for our joint efforts！ pic.twitter.com/O3fqr4ABSO
— Zhao Zhiyuan 赵志远 (@ChinaEmbAddis) October 4, 2022