The Council of Ministers decided on March 5, 2010, to establish the Information and Communication Technology Park Corporation with a capital of five billion Birr.

The directive for the establishment was approved by the council after it deliberated on the proposal of the Information and Communication Technology Development Agency (ICTDA). Its starting capital far supersedes the capital of both the Housing Development and Railway corporations, each of which started out with three billion Birr.

“We believe that it will elevate the development of ICT in Ethiopia,” said one of the officials who attended the meeting.

ICTDA has already secured 200ht of land from the Addis Abeba City Administration in the Yerer area of Bole District. Since last week the district has been issuing notices to property holders on the site, mainly to owners of quarries who are supplying gravel for construction work in the city. These owners have already started complaining to the district for ordering them to leave.

The development of the park includes roads, sewerage lines, various buildings for hotels, banks, and insurance companies. Various ICT companies will lease space in this park and conduct educational, service and production businesses.

The design of the park has been done by Vitro, an Indian company.

Board members and a director general are expected to be appointed for the park over the next few days, after which construction is expected start, although the time has not been fixed.

The government believes that ICT is one of the key inputs in its initiative to make Ethiopia a middle income country, according to the official who attended the meeting of the Council of Ministers. The ICT park will provide critical support toward fully exploiting the WoredaNet and SchoolNet projects which have been underway for sometime.

The park corporation will be critical for the success of these projects, which aim to interconnect all woredas, schools and universities in the country in an information network, which, according to the official, is the reason why the government has allocated a huge starting capital.

Source: AF