Local Contractors Deserve Stake in Ethiopia’s Mega-Projects, Says Civil Engineers Association

Amanuel Mekonnen, President of the Ethiopian Association of Civil Engineers (EACE), provided a comprehensive assessment of Ethiopia's construction sector in an interview with The Reporter. He highlighted that civil works currently account for an estimated 60 to 70 percent of the nation's total capital investments, emphasizing the sector's critical economic impact. Despite this massive footprint, foreign firms continue to dominate major development and mega-projects across the country. Mekonnen argued that local contractors deserve a far greater stake in these large-scale endeavors to build national capacity and retain capital. He addressed the current challenges facing native civil engineering firms and stressed the urgency of structural reforms to support domestic capacity. The discussion underlines a growing demand within the industry for equitable access to state-funded capital investments.