There are seven privately- and 10 government-owned industrial parks (IPs) operating in Ethiopia. Although the government-owned ones were developed with massive finances, thus far their performance has not been satisfactory. On the other hand, companies operating inside privately-owned IPs are doing well. In fact, an increasing number of foreign investors are requesting to develop their own IPs. The government, recently decided to discontinue developing IPs and is preparing a directive to facilitate this. EBR’s Elias Tegegn explores the issue.