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Beyond Tendaho, state-owned Sugar Corp. is building 10 refineries, including six for the Kuraz Sugar Project in the South Omo region near Kenya. It’s working too in the Awash area with China National Complete Plant Import & Export Corp., or Complant, on the Kessem sugar project. The $150 million Kessem is funded by state-owned Development Bank of China.
Sugar Corp. managers didn’t respond to e-mails and phone calls to spokesman Yilma Tibebu seeking comment since March 16.
From Metahara, the 1,200-kilometer Awash, which originates in Ethiopia’s highlands, flows northeast into Afar before drying near Djibouti. The area is studded with thorn trees and hot rocky outcrops inhabited by about 1.5 million people.
The Afar, primarily nomadic herders that carry long, curved daggers in sheaves on their hips, drink the river water, as do livestock. The effect of contamination on those that use the river would be “terrible,†Megersa said.
A group of experts and officials are studying the lake and will advise on how to deal with its growth, Tesfaye said. “For the time being, we don’t have a very good direction on what action we should take,†he said.
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