Entering Ethiopia's Hawassa Industrial Park

Local female workers in the workshop of Wuxi Jinmao's fabric factory in Ethiopia.

In less than an hour by plane, we arrived at Hawassa, the capital of Ethiopia's Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region. The Hawassa Industrial Park, built by China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC), is located in the suburbs of the city.

Hawassa Industrial Park is the first industrial park project led by the Ethiopian federal government and is also known as Africa's first zero-emission textile industrial park. The park covers an area of 130 hectares and includes 52 standardized factory buildings, a one-stop service center, 19 other buildings such as dormitories for employees, as well as roads and comprehensive utility infrastructure.

The park’s general manager, Matios Ashenafi, said that Hawassa Industrial Park was designed and constructed by CCECC, which also handled the park’s operational maintenance for more than a year. “CCECC maintained high standards in design and construction, completing the main construction tasks of the first phase within just nine months, setting a new speed record for Ethiopian government projects. Subsequently, CCECC quickly completed the second part of the first phase, receiving praise from the Ethiopian government and was personally awarded the ‘Outstanding Contribution Award’ by the then Prime Minister.”

The rapid completion of Hawassa Industrial Park laid a solid foundation for the park's investment attraction and operations. Its swift construction and successful investment have greatly boosted the Ethiopian government's confidence in industrial development, and the park has been hailed by locals as a "milestone project in Ethiopia's industrialization."

The industrial park is home to over 20 major international companies from the United States, China, France, Belgium, India, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka, all of which have commenced full-scale production. Inside the workshops, there is a bustling and vibrant work atmosphere. The park’s export earnings continue to grow, and it has created over 30,000 local jobs.

In the production workshop of Wuxi Jinmao’s fabric factory, many local workers are diligently working on the assembly line. The factory is spotless, with bright windows and clean floors. In 2023, Wuxi Jinmao’s project in Ethiopia had export earnings of $20.51 million, playing an increasingly important role in Ethiopia’s textile and garment exports, and continuously contributing to Ethiopia’s economic growth.

Source: People’s Daily - International Channel

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