Derba Midroc Cement Factory, the 351 million dollar factory, located 70 km outside the capital in Sululta Town of North Shoa Zone, Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia would start operation with an initial daily production of 1,800 tonnes of cement by the end of this month. The production would steadily progress to its full capacity of 60,000 tonne per day. "One of the major problems we have been facing is in obtaining electricity. We requested the electricity supply four years ago, but we have been met with only delays by the EEPCo," said Haile Assegdie, CEO of Derba Midroc Cement Factory. To speed up delivery of this, Derba Midroc had constructed a substation at the factory and installed a 132 KV transmission connecting it to the factory, for which the EEPCo was consulted at a cost of 12.8 million Br. The factory also needs a 150 tonnes-capacity crane to put the tops on the burners of the factory. "It depends on the commissioning of the power station and the transmission lines. Once that has been completed, we will see how much energy we can give them to run the factory," said Assegdie. Derba Midroc has contracted China National Building Materials (CNBM) for the engineering, procurement, and commissioning (EPC) of the project for 200 million dollars. CNBM will also be in charge of operating the factory and training the employees for one year after production starts. The factory has also signed an agreement with Volvo for the purchase of 1,000 trucks for the transportation of its cement.