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Ethiopia: Agrostone Plant to Go South
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Addis Fortune (Addis Ababa)
12 May 2008
Posted to the web 12 May 2008
Wudineh Zenebe
Addis Ababa
Agrostone production, initially introduced by the Housing Development Agency of the Addis Ababa City Administration under the then Mayor, Arkebe Oqubay, has expanded to the Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples Region (SNNPR).
SNNPR's Housing Development Project Bureau has already started construction of its own agrostone factory on a 7000sqm plot in Awasa town, the capital of SNNPR, adopting the design of the already operational Agrostone factory located in Akaki-Kality Sub-City.
"The plan is to finalize the construction (of the factory) in the current year and to use agrostone for houses to be constructed in the coming year," Teklu Fikru, general manager of SNNPR Housing Development Project office told Fortune.
SNNPR takes 39, 000 of the 400,000 condos the Ministry of Works and Urban Development (MoWUD) aims to construct in 70 towns across Ethiopia in the five years period which started in 2006/2007, with a total budget of 24 billion Br. Accordingly, the construction of condos is underway in six towns of SNNPR, including Awasa.
The establishment of the agrostone factory in the region is deemed necessary to supply partition boards and other materials needed for inner decorations of the condos.
The Awasa Agrostone Factory would get the patented agrostone technology from the Chinese Xinghe Building Materials Co. Ltd., the same company that supplied technology and machinery to the Addis Ababa Housing Development Agency's Agrostone Factory.
The Chinese company will deliver this equipment, acquired by Addis Ababa Housing Development Agency at a cost of 16 million Br, to SNNPR's Housing Development Project Bureau for 9.7 million Br.
Currently, the Addis Ababa Agrostone Factory produces double of tits initial capacity of 750 panels a day following the expansion works it undertook last year, while the one in Awasa will be able to make 500 panels a day when it goes operational next year.
The Addis Ababa Agrostone Factory had been importing magnesium oxide, a raw material used in making agrostone, from China but the Housing Development Agency has erected a magnesium oxide factory in Kibre-Mengist area of Oromia Region in order to produce the raw material locally.
This factory currently produces 20,000 tonnes of magnesium oxide annually and higher officials at MoWUD have decided it should be expanded so as to double its production capacity. Accordingly, the agency has recently signed an agreement with Fishiwal Building Materials Co. Ltd. for supplies. This Chinese company supplied the initial technology.
The Awasa Agrostone Factory will also get raw materials from this company.
Originating from China, agrostone technology uses wastes like by-products of sugar cane, wheat as well as pumice or solidified lava, magnesium sulphate and red soil to replace cement and concrete in the construction of houses. The idea of importing the technology to Ethiopia was tabled when the shortage and high cost of construction materials, particularly that of cement, brought the construction of condos to a standstill.
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General Manager of Addis Ababa City Care Taker Administration Housing Development Agency, Tsedale Mamo, told Fortune that the intention is to make agrostone a major input to the housing development works as it appears to be cost effective as opposed to cement.
Agrostone, Chika, enkulal, anything to materalize this massive construction bonanza. According to published report Ethiopia is short of some 18 million tonns of cement. I don't think Ethiopia has to spend foreign currency to import cement, but capitalize on its potential to utilise the existing raw materials to manufacture it. I will go further and explore the potential for cement export given the Nation's potential in cheap electricty production ubiqutuous availablitly of raw materials for cement production. I am sure much of the shortage is created due to the builidng of tens of thousands of condominiums. While this... [Read Full Text]
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