Chinese Company to Erect Habesha Cement Factory

Habesha Cement Share Company of Ethiopia signed an agreement with a
Chinese company, Northern Heavy Industries, for the design, supply and
installation of the cement factory.

The signing ceremony took place this morning, October 26, 2010, at the
Hilton Addis. Northern Heavy Industries, which won the international
tender, will be paid 79 million US dollars for completing the factory
and the total project coast is estimated to reach 110 million US dollars.

Habesha Cement is established by raising over 260 million birr (16
million US dollars at current exchange rate) fund from the
public.Habesha Cement plans to obtain a loan for 70 percent of the whole
project from the Development Bank of Ethiopia.

It was two months ago that Northern Heavy Industries won the
engineering, procurement and construction tender. The price and
completion time offered by Northern Heavy Industries is mentioned as
among the factors that were taken into consideration for selecting the
company.

The factory, which will be erected 35 Kms from Addis Ababa at Holeta,
Oromia Regional State, will have the production capacity of 1.4 million
quintals per annum.

Habesha Cement is established by 15,000 shareholders who were promised
by the promoters last year to earn 122 percent return per share when the
factory begins production.

The main promoters of habesha Cement Share Company include: board
chairman and main promoter Gizaw T. Mariam (Eng.), secretary to the
board and main promoter Eskinder Desta, and chief executive officer and
main promoter Mesfin Abi (Eng.).