The first phase of the Hawassa Industry Park (HIP), the 1st Sustainable Textile and Apparel Grand Park in Africa, has become fully operational.
On an event organized yesterday to officially launch Park’s operation, Prime Minister Hailemariam Dessalegne said the Grand Production inauguration of the Park is a demonstration of the government’s commitment to deliver its promise to bring about structural transformation in the economy.
The Government of Ethiopia is unwavering in its commitment to making the country the leading manufacturing hub in Africa by 2025. In this regard, the construction of the Park will contribute a lot to realize this vision,” he said.
The Premier said the Park has currently created job opportunity for 10,000 employees. When it becomes fully operational, it would create job for nearly 60 thousands of Ethiopians, he added.
The Park covers a total area of 3 million m2. Phase one of the HIP covers a land area of 1.4 million m2, of which 410,000m2 is a factory shed built up area.
It was also indicated that targeted investment recruitment has been carefully conducted-resulting in the attraction of over 18 global leading textile and apparel companies. Of the total, eight companies have already begun exporting their product to foreign market.
Furthermore, eight local investors have been meticulously selected and necessary preparations are finalized to facilitate their investment in the Park.
The Park has planned to generate one billion USD per annum. This vision, is expected to be realized in two years time.
The majority of companies in HIP are currently operational and some have already begun exporting. At full capacity, the park is expected to generate export earnings of 1 billion USD.
To ease logistic challenges, the government has built an electric-powered railway that currently connects Addis Ababa to the port of Djibouti. Further expansion of the railway connection is underway to eventually link major economic corridors such as Hawassa, Kombolcha and Mekelle.
The Premier has also laid a cornerstone for the construction of the second phase project.