In a news conference he gave here on Thursday, the Minister, Girma Birru said the plan has enabled the country to increase its export revenue significantly.

Girma said the government has been building the capacity of cement factories while allowing entrepreneurs to import cement through franco-valuta.

He further said 1.6 million tons of cement has been produced in the last two and half years while 4.3 million tons is expected to be produced until 2002 EC.

The Ministry has also issued 19 new investment licenses in the sector of which 13 has already entered into construction phase, he said.

Girma said 8.6 million quintals of cement was also imported and distributed among users so far.

In a bid to expand the sugar industry, the government has already designed a project aimed at addressing the shortage of sugar, Girma said, adding that the government has allocated a two billion USD budget for the implementation of the project.

Activities are well underway to construct two dams with a capacity of 2.5 billion metric cube water which would be used for plantation of sugar cane, he said.

Girma said a plan has been formulated to increase sugar production from existing 300,000 tons to 1.5 million tons.

He said the 143 million liters of ethanol expected to be produced by the sugar factories would be used to manufacture molasses to address the problem of power in which the country has faced.

According to the Minister, 80,000 people are expected to get job opportunity when the projects are launched during the reported period.

Referring to fuel price, Girma said the government has been subsiding fuel.

He said the government's fuel subsidy in the next three months stands at 592 million Birr.

Concerning foreign trade, Girma said the country's export revenue has increased by 37 and 20 per cent in 1998 EC and 1999 EC respectively.

The country's export performance has also shown a 27 per cent increment in the last six months, according to Girma.

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