Investors complain of loss as govt repossess lands

ESAT News (November 29, 2016)

Over one hundred investors who leased huge tracts of land in Gambella, western Ethiopia, have vented their anger at a government minister after their land, on which they said had invested in millions, had been repossessed by the government.

The 107 businessmen and women, who had a meeting with the Minister D’etat for agriculture, told the official that they have lost in millions of dollars after the government repossessed their land saying the plots were leased to them “by error.”

The investors who took land the size of half the capital Addis Ababa in Gamella were told by the federal government to leave after they spent millions of dollars towards their project.

The Development Bank of Ethiopia meanwhile said it had lost in millions following the measure by the government to repossess the investment land.

There has also been allegations of taking multiple loans on a single plot from the Development Bank, which said had lost in millions.

Indian investors that took loans in millions for agricultural lands in Gambella had reportedly left the country without paying the Bank.