BY LAKACHEW ATINAFU
Hardly had the world to cope up with changes of circumstances ushered by manmade and natural disasters. COVID-19 has had a devastating impact on human, economic, social and political activities since the outbreak and the evolution from epidemic to pandemic. Although COVID-19 has crippled the global economy and slowed down the investment sector, it is well known that some countries have seen a boom in the COVID era and have made significant profits in the sector.
Ethiopia is one of the few countries in these regard withstanding the pandemic though the global political arena and internal conflict is a stab in the back for the mighty country in the Horn. Incumbent upon various complications, Oromia is one of the states that have the lion’s share of the country’s achievements during the COVID era, with the largest investment sector, high inflow of foreign investors and securing high income in the sector. In connection with this, The Ethiopian Press Agency has had moments with the Oromia Investment Commission Promotion Expert, Demisew Desisa.
According to him, the commission focuses on diversifying investment option, creating enabling environment for both foreign and local investors amid this critical time the country is being passed through temptation. Most notably, the state put in place expanding investment through conducting research on the region’s natural resources potential. Consequently, findings unveil that there is a wide range of investment opportunities in the region.
Another area of concern of the commission, as to the expert, was to ensure investment efficiency and effectiveness to the extent the investment will be supported and monitored to ensure its contribution to the local community and the country’s development.
The study identified investment opportunities that will accelerate technology transfer, increase export production, replace imported products, and create more jobs. In this regard, the state has been focusing on five priority investment sectors and is attracting developers in the areas.
Agriculture is the first of the five investment sectors. Priority will be given to investors in the fields such as crop production, coffee production, livestock farming and fattening. A variety of agricultural data have been developed to enable the developers to be successful in the sector. Necessary support and motivations are also being provided, Demisew said.
The agro-processing sector is also another lucrative sectors to benefit amassed citizenry; precisely, it gives priority to investors in the dairy, poultry and edible oil processing industries by linking farm to industry.
The region also prioritizes developers engaged in the manufacturing sector; many projects have been launched in the fields of electrical machinery and equipment, chemical industry (agro-chemical), pharmaceuticals and equipment, metal mining, cement production, and so on.
The fourth is the Horti-Culture sector; it is a sector in which many developers in the region are engaged in flower, fruit and vegetable production and generate significant foreign exchange for the country.
Fifth, priority was given to developers engaged in the hotel and tourism sector reserving opportunities to invest in spectacular Tourist Attraction sites like; Bale Mountain National Park. There are yet a number of investment opportunities in the region, such as Lake Wonchi. In general, extensive promotion work is underway to attract foreign investors, the Diaspora community and local investors to develop these five different investment opportunities in the region.
Adding, he said that about 17,299 projects with a registered capital of 462 billion Birr between 1992 and 2021 have been licensed and entered into the region. During the mentioned period, 691,832 job opportunities have been created in the investment sector.
For example, considering the region’s 2020/21 investment or project acceptance; in the just ended budget year, 4,359 (95.5 percent) projects have been approved by the Board. One of the reasons for the success of the plan is that the regional government has amended its investment regulation and the board has given special attention to attracting more farmers and small and micro enterprises.
Out of the 4,359 projects approved by the Board, 534 are domestic investors, 10 foreign investors, 98 Diaspora investors; 3,559 farmers, pastoralists, cooperatives and unions; 316 from micro and small enterprises to investment; a foreign investor working with the government. There are 74 projects that have been approved for expansion. When fully implemented, these projects will create 313,567 jobs.
A 35,820.16 hectares of land has been reserved for projects. The projects are expected to register a capital of 105.5 billion Birr and have a registered capital of 82.859 billion Birr or 78.9 percent of the plan. This is an increase of 55.61 billion Birr compared to the same period last year, he stated.
In addition, according to the expert, 925 developers have submitted applications and proposals to invest in the region in the short term of 2014. The proposals of the projects have been evaluated and submitted to the Board for an investment decision. Of these, 403 are in the manufacturing sector, 203 in the agro-processing, 220 tourism-related services sector, and 925 projects in the agricultural sector.
On the other hand, it is planned to support and monitor 2,952 projects in 2020/21 fiscal year and 5,426 projects have been monitored. Following the monitoring and support, 611 projects have been launched in the last fiscal year. As a result, the number of investment projects in the state has reached 7,355.
Demise further stated that out of the 611 projects that have been launched, 12 have been invested in manufacturing, 122 in agriculture, 72 in agro-industry and 405 in the service sector. These projects have created job opportunities for 7,594 citizens.
As a result of the support and monitoring work, 96 projects that suffered from hydro electric supply had been addressed and put into operation. On the other hand, despite long-term support and monitoring, investors who have been occupying vacant land have been closely monitored by the commission and its structures and have been warned.
Oromia becomes one of the top investment attractions in the country for the fact that it has diversified investment opportunities; its location at the middle of the country; proximity to ports coupled with the availability of dry ports and presence of its offices in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, Oromia and Africa as well, among others, it was learned.
The Ethiopian Herald October 2/2021
