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• Artist of the year 2008

Apart from these new contracts described below, NIRAS Civil Works and Infrastructure has since 2006 been lead consultant on two infrastructure projects: The road to be going from Gelego in Amhara Province to Guba in Benishangul-Gumuz Province and the second project eventually taking the road further from the town of Guba to Wembera in Benishangul-Gumuz.

NIRAS Civil Works and Infrastructure has done feasibility studies, including environmental and social impact assessments of the possible effects of the combined 150 km roads. This phase has moved into the detailed design phase. The contract value is  € 1,4 million and the projects are initiated by the Nordic Development Fund and the Ethiopian Roads Authorities.

New projects

Two of the new five projects, the Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene Project in Benishangul Gumuz (FinnWASH-BG) and the component to develop the M&E system for the Tana Beles Integrated Water Resources Development Project are both 4-year assignments, with total budgets of € 2,76 million and € 1,5 million respectively. They are both funded by the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA).

The other 3 contracts are; a one-year extension of the ongoing Sida Amhara Rural Development Programme (SARDP), a one-year EU framework contract to support the Natural Resources Management Department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and a six-month World Bank contract to develop an operational action plan for commercial production of pulses and oilseeds in Ethiopia under the Ethiopia Nile Irrigation and Drainage Project.

Regional stronghold

Tor Lundström, Director in NIC for Africa and Latin America Units explains: “Winning the projects, especially the two long-term, is strategically very important. We are now concentrating on launching these new projects in an efficient manner and trying to utilise potential synergies between projects as well as possible”.   

“Ethiopia has suddenly become one of our key countries in Africa”. And Tor further elaborates: “We are now looking forward to increasing and broadening our project portfolio in order to establish a long-term presence in Ethiopia”. “Four of the five projects are situated around the Blue Nile, which means that we can present a strong experience from the Nile Basin. Based on this, we are well equipped to bid for projects and activities coming from ENTRO” (The Eastern Nile Technical Regional Office established by the three governments of Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia with the purpose of coordinating natural resource management and poverty alleviation efforts in the greater Nile area).

New coordinator and office and a new partner

As part of our new Ethiopian stronghold, NIRAS has initiated a co-operation with a well reputed local company GIRDC with good networks and strong references from the water and rural development sectors. Further we plan to open a new office in Addis Abeba from where our regional representative Ato Aychew Adane can further intensify our marketing efforts.