Ambassador praises Ethiopia over Gibe III inauguration

Chinese Ambassador to Ethiopia La Yifan has congratulated Ethiopia over the inauguration of the Gibe III dam which he said will highly assist in raising the flow of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to the country and ensure citizens’ increased access to power, besides promising industrial transformation in the country.

The Ambassador spoke during today’s inauguration of the Gibe III hydroelectric dam which was attended by Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, senior government officials, Ambassadors and many other guests.

“I certainly believe Gibe III is going to serve as the wind of industrialization of this country in order to create so many jobs,” Ambassador La Yifan said in his brief speech.

The project is “yet another landmark achievement in this country”, the Ambassador indicated, praising the Ethiopian government’s political determination in realizing the project.

The successful completion of the project will improve the investment opportunities in Ethiopia by attracting more investors from China, Italy, UK, India and Turkey in manufacturing sectors, according to Ambassador La Yifan.

He added: “only through this strategic planning and political determination, we could make sure that this country will make continuous achievement in achieving 2025 vision.”

Chief Executive Officer of Salini empregilo, Pietro Salini on his part said the dam will create commercial relationship with neighboring countries and bring energy to villages and improve livelihoods.

According to the CEO, Gibe III will improve the technical capacity of local industries and technology transfer, in addition to assisting the overall economic growth of the country.

The Gibe III dam is part of a series of dams including the existing Gibe I (184MW) and Gibe II (420MW) as well as the planned Gibe IV (1472 MW) and Gibe V (560 MW) dams.

It was indicated that the construction of the project with an installed generation capacity of 1870MW consumed 1.5 billion Euros.

source ena