Tana Beles Sugar Factory 1 is to commence trial production in May this year, Ato Weyo Roba, CEO of the Ethiopian Sugar Corporation stated during a site visit organized for media and stakeholders.
Tana Beles Sugar Development Project 1, among other huge sugar development projects under construction, is found at Jawwi district of Awwi Zone in Amhara Regional State. The project was first planned to encompass three sugar factories, each with the capacity of crushing 12 thousand tons of sugarcane a day using sugarcane planted on 75 thousand hectares of land though the third one is cancelled by the Ethiopian Government due to shortage of finance.
Ethiopian Sugar Corporation had reached an agreement with Metal and Engineering Corporation (METEC) in 2012 to complete construction of Tana Beles sugar Factory 1 and 2 in 18 months. However, due to prolonged delay of construction of the factories, along with METEC facing high bankruptcy, had terminated agreements of construction of Tana Beles Sugar Factory 1 and 2 in 2018 and 2017, respectively.
Following the termination, the Sugar Corporation reached an agreement with China CAMC Engineering Co., Ltd. (CAMCE), which is currently constructing Welkayit Sugar Factory, to complete the remaining works of Tana Beles Sugar Factory 1 and the Company has already started the construction.
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When the Factory reaches its optimum capacity as per its design, it will have the capacity to produce refined sugar and generate 45 MW electricity, out of which it uses 16 megawatts for its own operational purposes and sends the remaining 29 MW to the national power grid to generate income. The Factory will have a capacity to produce high amount of molasses and ethanol as well.
Even though sugarcane is planted on 13,147 hectares land since the inception of Tana Beles Sugar Development Project in 2010, but because of most of the cane is old, removing the old cane is begun. Currently 12,362.37 hectares of land is covered with sugarcane while sugarcane planted on 2,352 hectares is tilled and covered with sugarcane removing the old sugarcane which is going to be used when the factory starts trial production.
Tana Beles Sugar Development Project has begun sugarcane plantation on 13,147 hectares land in 2010, using Beles River as source of irrigation water. However, recently the Sugar Corporation has started removing the old sugarcane plantation as it is futile for sugar production. Currently 12,362.37 hectares of land is covered with sugarcane.
Tana Beles Sugar Development Project is also producing diversified products parallel with sugarcane development. So far, the Project has covered 20 hectares of land with banana, 23 hectares with mango, 50 hectares with orange. The Project has so far created job opportunities for more than 91,000 local community members and other citizens on permanent, contract and provisional basis hired by the project, contractors as well as small enterprises. Furthermore, the Ethiopian Sugar Corporation has organized and supported 1,253 small enterprises creating market linkage.
Source: Ethiopian Sugar Corporation