A United States infrastructure development firm, Legendary MegaCorp, has partnered with the Ethiopian National Defense Construction Enterprise and Construction Materials Manufacturing Enterprise to establish a new share company that will engage in the production of modern construction materials with an initial investment of 10 million dollars.
In a joint press conference held yesterday at the Sheraton Addis, executives of the three companies told local reporters that the new share company dubbed Legendary Defense Products will produce and supply modern construction technologies to the local booming construction sector. 51 percent of the Legendary Defense Products is owned by the American side while the remaining 49 percent share is owned by the Defense Construction Enterprise (DCE) and Defense Construction Materials Manufacturing Enterprise (DCMME).
The new share company plans to build construction materials manufacturing plants in Addis Ababa and regional towns. At the initial phase the company would build two production lines in the existing manufacturing facilities of the DCMPE.
Hector Reyes, founder and chairman of Legendary MegaCorp, said that his company decided to invest in Ethiopia as the country is one of the fastest growing economies in Africa. Reyes said that the construction technologies that the new company would introduce would save 20-30 percent project cost and 40 percent on construction time. He said that his company has researched and confirmed that that the defense enterprises were the perfect local partner to introduce their new construction materials and methods to the greater Ethiopian market due to their high level of expertise and credibility in the region.
Welday Berhe, general manager of DCE, told local journalists that his enterprise is engaged in construction of buildings and very challenging road construction projects. “We use conventional construction technologies and by partnering with Legendary MegaCorp we hope to have modern techniques and advanced materials to save time and budget while providing a superior product outcome to the end users of the facilities,” Wolday said.
Mebratu Lemlem (Capt.), general manger of DMCE, expressed his firm belief that his enterprise would benefit from technology and knowledge transfer.
Reyes said that the new share company would supply modern construction materials to the vast housing development projects in Addis Ababa.
Legendary MegaCorp was created to facilitate holding company operations for several privately held vertically integrated business units which leverage transformational technologies and advanced material sciences into profitable ventures and partnerships. The company is an international development firm specializing in the financing, design, build and operation of medium to large scale infrastructure development projects within the public and private sector.
DCE and DCMME were re established in 2010 by Council of Ministers as public enterprises under a supervising authority, the Ministry of Defense. The authorized capital of both enterprises is 1.3 billion birr out of which 777,634,298 birr is paid up in cash and in kind. The annual turnover of the enterprises exceeds 2.2 billion birr.
[The Reporter]
