The capital of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa City, has revoked a total of 1,178 investment licenses for failure to realize the projects.
The investment licenses are cancelled By the Addis Ababa City Administration Investment Commission because they failed to commence implementing their investment projects, according to the state daily Amharic newspaper, Addis Zemen, which quoted an official.The 1,178 investment project licenses are cancelled over the past six months Abdulfeta Yesuf, Commissioner of Addis Ababa Investment commission told the paper. The investment law of the country stipulates that if an investment project has failed to start implementation, the license will be void.
The Commissioner stated that over the past six months a total of 1,598 new investment projects are registered registering a total investment capital of 26 billion birr (about $818 million at the current exchange rate). The areas of the investments include manufacturing, service, construction and social sectors.
He indicated that when all the new 1,598 new investment projects are implemented, they will create 10,000 jobs. It is indicated that over the past six months 2.9 billion birr was invested on different projects in the city, while 959 investment projects are allowed to import capital goods duty free.
In addition, many investment projects have been able to import 166 vehicles and spare parts for their machines duty free. He also stated that support is extended by the Commission for 19 investment projects to acquire land and implement their investment projects.
The major challenges new investors faced in Addis Ababa include shortage of hard currency, electricity and land, according to the Commissioner. It is recalled that after Dr. Abiy Ahmed became Prime Minister, the Addis Ababa City Administration led by Deputy Mayor Eng. Takele Umma has been taking back land from investors who failed to commence implementing their investment projects. Most of the land the Administration took from the investors has been turned into a parking spaces creating jobs for hundreds of unemployed youth in the city.