The Success Story has no end...

The success story reported again,

Saudi Billionaire Plans to Invest $2.5 Billion to Build Ethiopia Rice Farm

"Addis Ababa, March 23 (WIC) - Saudi Star Agricultural Development Plc, a food company owned by billionaire Sheikh Mohammed al- Amoudi, said it plans to invest $2.5 billion by 2020 developing a rice-farming project in Ethiopia.
The company, based in Addis Ababa, leased 10,000 hectares (24,711 acres) in Ethiopia’s western Gambella region for 60 years at a cost of 158 birr ($9.42) per hectare annually, Chief Executive Officer Haile Assegide said "  

(http://www.aigaforum.com;24.03.2011 )

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Let us make a simple arithmetic of our investor and contract dealers:-

A simple middle-class apartment in an average European city may cost $9,42 per square meter in a month, and annually this would be 12 times $9,42 per square meter.

That means, annually you would pay 12x more for the square meter than the Saudi investor does for the hectare in Gambella.  In other words with the annual-amount you pay for the square meter apartment, the Saudi investor gets 12 hectares; these are 120,000 square meters (1ha = 10,000).

If you can afford an apartment of 100 sq.meters, you would get a lease of 1200 hectares.

If you come together with 10 other Ethiopians under the same conditions, you would get a lease of 12000 hectares; 2000 hectares more than the Saudi Investor (10 000 ha.) would get.

If you have as much capital as you would pay for your apartment, it is an easy game.

If not and If you go to a bank to get the amount of capital what the Saudi Investor needs, this would amount to 10,000 x 9,42 = $ 94,200 a year. If you pay an interest of 10 % for this, it will be $9,420 per year. If you spare the extra 2000 ha. (to remain at the simple calculation),  you have enough savings to finance the interest for two consecutive years.  2000 x 9,42 = 2 x $9,420.

And at last all you need is the starting operative investment capital. A Start Capital, what a healthy nationally oriented commercial bank would be obliged to grant to its citizens. – Citizens, who are ready to work for themselves and the national development of their country.

To play with the round figures; How much?

"$2.5 Billion to Build Ethiopia Rice Farm." ...$2,500 000 000…This can make an investment of $250 000 each for 10 000 share-holders. The duration of the investment is 10 years, until 2020. In other words every shareholder needs to invest $25 000 per year on every hectare of the total of 10 000 hectares. Or one can make it cumbersome or a state-project with private holdings and a lot of combination-models are possible (1*. Given that 60% of the investment can be financed by a national development bank, the proprietors capital necessary for investment would be only $10 000 per year from each share-holder (10 000 share holders).

If you look behind the curtain; what the “big” investors are doing, is essentially nothing more than this calculation provided in all details by their canny-greedy consultants and accountants. They don’t perform miracles to get their capital out of the blues; and our big investor presumably collects also his investment capital, that he manages and administers,  from his 10 000 Saudi friends and citizens, who would employ all their influence of their King Abdullah to enforce  the protection of their investment in times of crisis, like what they are doing upto employing their armed forces in Bahrain these days - the days of social movements for Human Dignity.

Summa sammarum:

If there is the good Collective WILL, is this difficult for any state and government to organize and encourage its own citizens, to operate along this line; instead of going abroad in all directions of the globe, with “Land for Sale/ Ethiopia for Sale (clip)” shield, unless there is some hidden strategic agenda of domination etc.  – the new brand of Neocolonialism (clip).

BUT to be clear, the above narrative is only out of the perspective of the "investor and investment". The perception from the perspective of developing prosperity in coherence with the objective of sustaining nature and culture (the indigenous culture of the people) as a quality of life may however produce a very tragic story (clip).

 

In the context of the moment, it remains to say:

What a Success Story? 

Gambella/ Ethiopia for Sale-

During the last 20 years, every Ethiopian knows that the “melese-world-acclaimed/" "democratic election" by the ruling clique in Ethiopia has not taken place for the first time in 2010. As far as I remember this has never been traded by the Melese ruling clique, as "a five year contract with the people of Ethiopia" etc..  Moreover, the academic discourse about "Democracy" as a form of contract etc. is four centuries old, so that no one would hardly come on the notion to make this a theme of a press conference.

So why is "contract" a subject of discussion for Melese!

These days, I think when Melese is talking about "the contract“, be it remembering the crash course he made on the "Hobbes" and  "Locke’s” State;  or pedaling between "The state, is it me"?  "the king" or "the rule", there are  rather some other facts which are haunting him in his subconscious.  The contracts of the land grabbing and similar projects scattered for out-sales into the globe of investors around India, Saudi Arabia, China, South Korea, until recently even Libya and Egypt or Nigeria or  Djibouti etc. !

The subconscious, as diligent as it is in every creature makes the simple arithmetic like the above, without consulting him or his "Excellency",  and gives the notes to the conscious designated  as  a life-threatening fact, since any Ethiopian is more or less aware of this. It would thus look for a survival justification with the consequence of prattling some stuff, which would take every normal citizen by surprise:

"The five years contract I made with the people"; "I can do and leave what I like during these days!";
 

And the witty sub-conscious suggests further the soothing internal remark : 

„Don’t worry;  you will be relieved from the specter in five years; to win the next election again and again... and the contract is for your and your children’s whole life time ….-60 years and more!"

"You can do and leave what you like during these troubling days of year 2011; Moreover every social movement is a question of terrorism, security force, - or you can call it  - law and order; like every one of your genre does...Go ahead; tell them that you would chop their fingers (clip), if they don't  fit in the row...like the royal houses of the investors do it"!

And so the sub-conscious would delegate the conscious to spit out the context-less concepts in the realm of confusion to play the parody of the wise leader - the wise tyrant, to claim the  "honor" of the late Mubarek, who was being praised for his wisdom until very recently by almost all politicians of the "pragmatic school" from the west, the East, the Far East , Middle East and the whole Arab world as well, except his own people, to leave the polit-arena for good on the day of the "account" – 11.02.2 011  - The Dignity Day of Egypt – 

WHEN IS THE ETHIOPIAN DAY of HUMAN DIGNITY ???

--
ከመቃብር በፊት...
ሰው ለመስራት ብቻ ከፍቀደ አየሩ
ክህነት ካላችሁ አሰቡ መርምሩ
ተራ  ከገባችሁ ዘክሩ አስዘክሩ
ያልሆነው እንዲሆን ምከሩ ሞክሩ~~~
ሽቀጣና ሽቀት እንዳይሆን ሃገሩ
አንድ ቀን እንደሆን አይቀር መቃ-ብሩ።

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"Move, Click and Tick" in the aquarium!

*** collective
** interactive
* sovereign

(1*. 

Area/share(ha)	Operating capital ($)	Share-capital ($)	Shareholders’ number	Investment duration/year
1	2,500 000 000	250 000	10 000	10
1	2,50 000 000	25 000	10 000	1
0,1	2,50 000 000	2 500	100 000	1
0,01	2,50 000 000	250	1000 000	1
0,001	2,50 000 000	25	10 000 000	1