Ethiopian engineer hails experience with Chinese company

Tadiyos Getaneh, a 29-year-old Ethiopian engineer, has hailed his work experience with a Chinese company, International First Highway (IFH) Engineering East Africa branch.

The Company, which was formerly known by CRBC here in the East African country, has recently awarded the Ethiopian young engineer an Excellent Foreign Young Employee Award at a ceremony held in Beijing, China.

Tadiyos was among those award winners of the company from different countries of five continents, for their hard work and commitment with the activities of IHF Engineering in their respective countries.

IHF Engineering is one of the subsidiaries of China Communication Construction Company (CCCC) and has been engaged in construction of roads, bridges, and other civil engineering projects in the country.

The company has carried out more than 34 projects in the construction of road, building, water supply, and sanitary works in Ethiopia since its establishment in 1998.

Tadiyos told Xinhua that IHF Engineering is the leading company among the construction firms in the construction industry of Ethiopia.

Tadiyos has been growing with the status of his position at the company and has now achieved a position of Chief Highway Designer.

He said he has gained a lot of experience from the company which he said developed his capacity since he graduated from university in civil engineering.

He stated that the company has transformed the construction trend in the country where a number of local companies have also developed their capacity by working with IHF Engineering as sub-contractors.

Having served different positions of assistant design engineer, design engineer, and chief road design engineer, Tadiyos has been involved in the projects carried out by the company including, in city road designs, condominium roads, airport apron, and runway design and construction among others.

"Among those I was in charge of the design for Addis Ababa Bole International Airport expansion project from 2011-2013 with a total cost of 68,080,000 U.S. dollars. I was also in charge for the design of Megenagna-Torhayloch, Addis Ababa's East-West road project from the year 2014 to 2015. I have made remarkable contribution for CRBC Addis Engineering road construction," he said.

"From the new trainee employee in 2009, I was the first with best result to be admitted by the company. I showed a prominent working capacity from the beginning of my employment. I quickly adopted working culture of the Chinese that I soon became a hard, responsible and remarkable worker," he stated.

He has also hailed the job opportunity created by the company to the local people.

"This company employed more than 3,000 local staff; it has less than 200 Chinese staff. This is one of the company's contributions to the city (country)," noted Tadiyos.

Tadiyos also stated that IHF Engineering has helped a number of local companies achieve development and grow big.

"Many larger companies in the country have developed from beginning as sub-contractors from IHF Engineering," noted Tadiyos, "They learned construction methodology and work management from IHF Engineering."

Regarding the award, Tadiyos said he is delighted and it encourages him to do more with his career. Endit