Tendaho Sugar Project

Tendaho Sugar factory is in the process of construction in Afar State. The factory will be the largest sugar mill in Ethiopia. The construction of this large factory was started around 2005 way before the establishment of Sugar Corporation. The accomplishment took long years due to lack of implementing capacity of local and foreign contractors and other related social and administrative problems. It is now in a better move after the corporation’s involvement in identifying its drawbacks and took remedial measures.

The construction has two phases. The first phase is intended to build a factory with a 13,000 tone crushing capacity per day. In the second phase it will be capacitated to crash more than 13,000 tones a day. On its final stage, Tendaho  will be a factory with a capacity of 26,000 tcd and will produce 619,000 tones of sugar, 55.4 million liter ethanol and 120 mega watts electricity per annum. The factory is expected to create 42,000 job opportunities when it starts in full gear.

17,223 residential and 308 non-residential houses have been planned to be built during the project’s time. To-date 3,387 residential and 61 non-residential houses have been constructed in the first phase and more 5,628 residential and 85 non-residential houses have been built in the second phase of the housing project. Totally 9,015 residential and 146 non-residential houses have been built. The project covers 50,000 hectares of sugarcane plantation; out of which over 7,000 has already been cultivated.

The Ethiopian government has already taken necessary measures to ensure no harm is done to the localities, their grazing land and cattle breeding practices. Feasibility and socio-economic studies have been conducted prior to the projects implementation to mitigate negative impacts the development project might cause and the study revealed that the project would benefit the Afar people to do away with their long standing social and economic problems.

It is evident that Sugar Corporation has been set up on October 2010 by the Council of Ministers Regulation No.192/2010 with a view of running and managing the nation-wide sugar development program in a large scale and structure, which in fact is one of the government’s major priorities in the GTP.

It is only after the corporation took hold of leading the industry that continuous consultations and consensus building efforts have been made with the people and the regional administration regarding the possible problems that would arise in the course of the implementation of the project.

Since the policy of the corporation is to give foremost attention to social issues and ensure the benefit of the people in the development process; the ongoing effort in the region is now heading properly better than ever.

Moreover, to ensure a sound implementation of the projects at Tendaho and in other regions, a national steering committee comprising Federal and Regional stakeholders has been set up with a mission of supervising and rendering continuous support before any critical social issue and other unprecedented problem gets out of control.

An irrigable land has already been set aside and 1.3 billion birr has been earmarked by the Ministry of Water and Energy for resettlement and rehabilitation of locals living near the project’s command areas. Consequently, an aggregate of ten thousand hectares of irrigable land has been allocated. The preparation of the resettlement area is conducted by contractors hired by the corporation. So far 2000 hectares of land has been made ready and 4,500 hectares have been given to contractors to work on it and preparations are underway to award the remaining 2,500 hectares.

The provision of one hectare irrigable land for each household and the fact that 110 million birr compensation fee offered by Ministry of Water & Energy is an indication of government’s commitment to ensure that the people get benefited. On the other hand in each resettlement area the construction of seven social service institutions like veterinary center, health station, farmer’s training center, bakery, mosque, potable water and drinking place for cattle is underway.

Common grazing land is also identified. Moreover, 82 associations with 1,640 members are organized as SMEs. And out of 8,725 jobs created by the corporation and contractors 3,057 are people from the locality. This shows the ongoing benefit of citizens in general and locals in particular.

This huge undertaking which is one of the highest priority areas in the GTP is geared towards ensuring the benefits of local people where the development project is underway. And also this is a clear indication of a people-centered development approach of the government. Likewise, Sugar Corporation, as a public enterprise, will follow the path towards ensuring the benefits of the people along its large scale sugar development endeavors.