The factory, which has the capacity to produce 80,000ql a day, is to give 60-day credit to contractors who place a 50pc down payment and back up the remainder with an unconditional bank guarantee. This is not merely a one-time deal, as contractors can keep using it as long as the guarantee is in place, according to Haile Assegedie, CEO of Derba.

Eskinder Desta (center), promoter of Habesha Cement, looks jubilant as he shakes hands with Tadesse Hatiya, vice president for credit service of the Development Bank of Ethiopi (DBE) after signing a 1.5 billion Br loan, the single largest financing extended to a private sector company, on Friday, September 30, 2011 at Intercontinental Hotel. The amount is 70pc of the estimated cost of Habesha’s plant. Chinese Northern Heavy Machinery Industries Shenyang Co Ltd (NHI) was awarded the construction of the factory, which will rest at 30 hectare of land in Holeta, 35km, west of the capital in Oromia Regional State. When it starts operation, Habesha will be the third largest private cement producer in the nation next to the state owned Mughar Cement and the Endowment Fund for the Rehabilitation of Tigray's (EFFORT) Messobo, injecting 1.4 million tonnes on annual basis. Ethiopia Electric Power Cooperation (EEPCo) has guaranteed the supply of 25mw of electric power at a cost of 1.7 million dollars for the cement factory to be in operation in 20 months time.