Kenya Airways Invites Ethiopian Airlines to Merge

Kenya Airways issued an invitation to merge to Ethiopian Airlines and South Airways. The Kenyan airline extended the invitation in a bid to become more competitive on the global market and to face the challenge from large non African airlines.

The invitation was issued at the 44th African Airlines Association Annual General Assembly held in Johannesburg last week. The idea of the sub-Saharan allies merging to create a union to withstand the current global competition was suggested by Titus Naikuni, CEO of Kenya Airways speaking at the conference.

The proposal was accepted in principle by Tewolde GebreMariam CEO of Ethiopian Airlines. Size is an important factor in the aviation sector which depends on economies of scale he noted. As far as Ethiopian Airlines is concerned the idea of a major pan-African Airway is considered positively said Tewolde.

It is noted that the global aviation sector is currently dominated by non-African Airways which control as much as an estimated 80 percent of the market. In light of this African airlines will benefit from uniting explains the proposal presented by Kenyan Airways. The three airways, Ethiopian, South African and Kenyan Airways, can create a large airline to allow them to grow, deliver better service and to improve their safety and performance according to the proposal. 

Source: The Reporter

Ethiopia to Privatize 20 Public Companies in the Current Year

The Ethiopian Privatization and Public Enterprises Supervising Agency said that it intended privatization of 20 public enterprises in the current Ethiopian budget year according to an announcement made on 1st December.    

The agency anticipates that it will earn more than 3.3 billion Birr from the privatization efforts planned for this year said Wondafrash Assefa Corporate Communication Director for the agency.

17 of the enterprises are expected to be sold directly in the privatization process said Wondafrash.

It is to be remembered that PPESA tendered a bid for six companies last month. The six companies being put up for privatization are the Arbagugu Coffee Plantation, Awash Wine Share Co, Bilito Siraro, Commercial Printing Enterprise, Construction Works and Coffee Technology Development Enterprise, and Hamaressa Edible Oil Share Co according to Wondafrash Assefa, Spokesman for the PPESA. 

Investors can bid for the six companies until the 20th of December he noted.

The plan is to privatize all publicly owned enterprises except those regarded to be strategic he said.
The current round of privatization is planned to contribute to the financing of the five year growth plan which calls for the nation to spend 144 billion birr this financial year in the housing, transport and energy sectors.

Kenya-Ethiopia power import deal enters new phase with tender call

Kenya's President Mwai Kibaki and Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn during the signing of a special status agreement at State House in Nairobi, in November 2012. The Kenya-Ethiopia electricity interconnector will have a capacity of 2,000 megawatts. Photo |   NATION MEDIA GROUP

The push by Kenya to import electricity from Ethiopia has entered a new phase, with a call for tenders to set up substations linking Kenya and Ethiopia.

The Kenya Electricity Transmission Company Ltd (Ketraco), a State corporation set up to develop electricity transmission infrastructure, on Monday advertised tenders for contractors to install substations in Suswa, Kenya, and Wolayita Sodo in Ethiopia from where power will be connected to the national grids of both countries.

The next step will be to lay high voltage lines connecting the Kenya National Grid and that of Ethiopia.

This will allow Kenya Power and Lighting Company to import electricity, cutting on the supply deficit that has been created by low local generation capacity against a growing demand for power.

Ethiopia is currently constructing the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, expected to generate 6,000 megawatts, partly for export to the region, and is scheduled to be completed in 2018.

The project is funded by the International Development Association of the World Bank Group and the African Development Bank.

“The Government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and the Government of the Republic of Kenya intend to apply part of the proceeds of these credits to payments under the contract for design, supply, installation and commissioning of HDVC converter stations in Ethiopia and Kenya,” read the tender notice in part.

Regional pool

The Kenya-Ethiopia interconnector will have a capacity of 2,000 megawatts, although in a deal signed last year by Kenya’s Energy ministry and the Government of Ethiopia, the country intends to import an initial 400 megawatts of electricity.

In September, the board of AfDB approved a $348 million loan to fund the project, adding to another $684 million loan that had been approved by the World Bank’s board of directors towards the same course.

Of the World Bank funds, Kenya received $441 million and the rest was allocated to Ethiopia. The current installed capacity stands at slightly above 1,500 megawatts, with only less than 30 per cent of the country’s population having access to electricity.

The project, which is set for completion by the end of 2016, is one of many projects being undertaken by countries within East Africa to facilitate trade of power within the region.

The pool consists of all the East Africa Community member states in addition to Ethiopia, Djibouti and Sudan.

According to Ketraco, construction of a 1,000 megawatts interconnector that will link Kenya to Rwanda and Burundi through Uganda is set to begin, while tenders for the construction of a similar connection between Kenya and Tanzania are expected to be floated soon.

“We already have a contractor on the ground to construct the Kenya-Uganda interconnector. Very soon, tenders will be called for the construction of the Kenya-Tanzania interconnector,” said a spokesperson from Ketraco.

Ethiopian Maid Commits Suicide in Kuwait

December 5, 2012 - An Ethiopian domestic worker committed suicide in Kuwait inside an Ali Sabah Al-Salem house recently, according to preliminary investigations. The Ethiopian woman was reportedly found hanging inside the kitchen, according to her employer who called the police.

Investigators believe that the maid used a piece of cloth as a noose which she put around her neck and tied the other end to the ceiling, before climbing onto a chair that was found knocked off nearby.

The body was taken to the forensic department. Investigations are on to determine the circumstances that led to the suicide, according to the report.

SouthWest Energy of Ethiopia to Raise $100 Million in Equity

SouthWest Energy Ltd., an Ethiopian oil and gas exploration company, said it plans to raise $100 million via a private placement in the first quarter of 2013 to help finance a three-well drilling program in the Ogaden basin.

The company has pushed back the date for sinking the first well to the third quarter, from the first half, as it analyzes data and decides on one of 15 possible targets in blocks 9, 9a and 13, Chairman Tewodros Ashenafi said in an interview. SouthWest may also try to sell a stake in the fields, he said.

“Potentially, we will go out to raise money from selected private equity players,” Tewodros, 43, said in an interview yesterday in Rwanda’s capital, Kigali. The company may also seek a partner to bring “international resources and technical additions,” he said.

Landlocked Ethiopia, sub-Saharan Africa’s seventh-biggest economy, produces no oil or gas and relies on coffee and other agricultural exports for annual foreign-exchange earnings of about $3 billion. While only 18 exploratory wells have been drilled in the country, investment is accelerating now that explorers have discovered oil and gas in East Africa, spurring interest in a previously overlooked region, he said.

Mozambique and Tanzania have large-scale natural gas deposits, while Uganda is scheduled to start pumping its first crude by 2014 and Kenya announced an oil discovery in March.

‘Interesting’

“East Africa has become very interesting,” Tewodros said. “The trend is moving from Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda, now Kenya, and I think next will be Ethiopia, which had been ignored as an oil- and gas-potential country,” he said.

Tullow Oil Plc (TLW), based in London, and Canada’s Africa Oil Corp. (AOI) in March announced they struck oil in Turkana, a northern region in neighboring Kenya. The companies hired China’s BGP Inc. to survey similar terrain across the border in Ethiopia’s South Omo Block.

Tullow will start drilling its “first exploration well” in South Omo next month, the Addis Ababa-based Reporter newspaper said on Dec. 1, citing people it didn’t identify.

SouthWest, which is based in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, and registered in Hong Kong, also has the rights to a block in the Gambella region and it plans to buy more exploration acreage outside of Ethiopia in other East Africa nations either next year or in 2014, he said.

The company recorded no security incidents while surveying the Somali-bordering Ogaden basin, logging 1 million man-hours, he said. The Ogaden National Liberation Front has fought a low- level insurgency in the area since 1984 seeking greater autonomy. In April 2007, the banned group attacked a site operated by China’s Zhongyuan Petroleum Exploration Bureau, killing nine Chinese workers and 65 Ethiopians.

United States Provides Textbooks to Ethiopian Children

The United States Aid for International Development (USAID) provides5.5 million English language text books for primary school children in Ethiopia.

USAID Ethiopia Mission Director, Dennis Weller, has handed over the books to Ethiopia’s State Minister of Education, Fuad Ibrahim, on November 29 at the Ministry of Education.

USAID’s Textbooks and Learning Materials Program (TLMP) developed the textbooks in cooperation with Ethiopia’s Ministry of Education.  According to the press stamen from the U.S. Embassy in Addis, USAID printed the large amount of textbooks in order to allow every child in grades 2, 3 and 4 to have access to the learning material. Previously, USAID has developed, printed, and donated English textbooks for other primary school grades.

“These books will serve to improve the English language skills of students in grades 2 to 4 in over 28,000 Ethiopian schools nationwide, in support of the Ministry of Education’s General Education Quality Improvement Program,” said Mission Director Dennis Weller.

Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University collaborated on textbook design, development, and production with the Ethiopian Ministry of Education.  The English textbooks are fully aligned with Ethiopia’s national curricula, culturally relevant to the Ethiopian context, and incorporate everyday themes, such as gender sensitivity and equity, hygiene, HIV/AIDS, and community responsibility.

“This partnership between the government and people of Ethiopia and the government and people of the United States to improve basic education started when USAID first came to Ethiopia 50 years ago. At that time the U.S. government has contributed to increasing access to primary schools, especially for children in hard to reach areas and girls, improving the quality of education, building the capacity of teachers, strengthening partnerships between the school and community, and enabling females to complete secondary and higher education,” said USAID Mission Director Dennis Weller.

The symbolic presentation ceremony was held at the Ministry of Education, in Addis Ababa, and was presided over by State Minister Fuad Ibrahim and attended by Regional Education Bureau heads along with officials from the Ministry of Education and USAID Ethiopia. The book donation is valued at almost 6 million US Dollars.

Ethiopian Airlines offers special fares from Muscat to Addis Ababa

MUSCAT — Ethiopian Airlines, the national flag carrier of Ethiopia, has announced special return winter fares for passengers who plan a short visit from Oman to Ethiopia. Also, the African airline has started arranging hotel bookings in Addis Ababa and offers special holiday breaks in Addis.
“Even if Ethiopia has many more things to offer to the tourists, it is still an unexplored Destination from Oman”, says Sami Muctar, Area Manager, Ethiopian Airlines in Oman, adding, “by introducing this special offer, we are giving opportunity to the residents in Oman to experience Ethiopia and there by boost the traffic between both countries”’. This facility can also be enjoyed by Ethiopian Airlines passengers who wish to take a short break in Addis Ababa while visiting other countries. Vibrant Addis Ababa is as cosmopolitan as any of the world's great metropolises, and the architecture is as varied as the city itself. Despite its proximity to the equator, its lofty altitude - the third-highest capital in the world — means that it enjoys a mild climate with an average temperature of 16°C (61°F).
Ethiopian Airlines also facilitates Ethiopian visa for Omani nationals and residents in their office in Muscat. The visa will be facilitated within ten working days from submission of documents. It has tremendously eased the burden for passengers who are keen to visit Ethiopia since, earlier; Visa is secured by physically going to the Consulate office in Dubai, UAE, or sending Passport to Yemen.
Ethiopian Airlines, a Star Alliance member, started operating to Oman in December 2011 and currently operates 4 flights a week from Muscat to Addis Ababa with convenient connections to almost all African major cities. Ethiopian Airlines, to attract more customers, has significantly decreased its fares to other destinations in countries like Tanzania, Sudan, Kenya, Burundi and South Africa. The Promotional baggage allowance to all African destinations is 45kgs.