ETHIOPIAN CONSTRUCTION WORKS

CORPORATION

FEASIBILITY STUDY OF GYPSUM PRODUCTS

(GYPSUM BOARD, BLOCK & FRAME)

ECWC, CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS PRODUCTION

CENTER

June 2023
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents Page
TABLE OF CONTENTS ii

LIST OF TABLES iii

APPENDICES iv

ACRONYMS v

1. INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Background 3

1.2 Objective 4

1.2.1 General Objective 4

1.2.2 Specific Objectives 4

1.3 Significance/Importance 5

1.4 Scope/Delimitation 5

1.5 Limitations 5

1.6 Organization of the document 5

2. MARKET STRATEGY 7

3. SWOT ANALYSIS 11

4. COSTS 13

4.1 Costs (Direct, Indirect, Intangible & Opportunity) 13

5. FINANCIAL AND ECONOMIC ANALYSIS 14

6. NET PRESENT VALUE ANALYSIS 16

7. CONCLUSIONS 19

References 20

APPENDICES 21

ii
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: SWOT analysis of Gypsum products 11
Table 2: Comparisons with market price 13
Table 3: Initial Investment Cost 13
Table 4: First year cash flow 14
Table 5: Net Present Value of proposed project 15

iii
APPENDICES
Figure 1: Gypsum Block mould preparation 19
Figure 2: Gypsum Board Preparation 20

iv
 ACRONYMS
FSR Forest Sector Review
WRE Wood Round Equivalent

v
 1. INTRODUCTION

Ethiopia is the largest East African importer of wood products (ITTO, 2016).
Imports have increased substantially since 2012, driven by the booming
economy and the country wide supply deficit of wood products. Key imported
products are softwood sawn wood from Austria and wood-based panels and
joinery from China (UN comtrade, 2016).

The low level of industrial wood products supply from domestic production is
compensated by a large volume of imports. To minimize the large volume of
imports, Ethiopian Construction Works Corporation is planned to establish
Wood Products Production Center, in addition to its main purposes of
establishment.

Ethiopian Construction Works Corporation (ECWC) is a newly established

public enterprise with the authorized capital of birr 20.3 billion; on December
2015 based on council of ministers’ regulation No. 366/2015. It also governed
by the public enterprises’ proclamation No. 25/1992. Its supervising authority
is the ministry of public enterprises and its policy making body is the board of
the corporation whose members are appointed by the government selected
from different organizations. The head quarter of the corporation is located in
the capital city of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, around Gurd shola. It is headed by a
Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

Purposes for the establishment of the corporation are mainly focuses on: To
engage in domestic and overseas construction works as a contractor,
upgrading and maintenance of roads, bridges, works related to dams,
irrigations, hydropower generations, water supply systems, sewerage systems,
drainages, deep water wells, reclamations, river diversions, construction of
buildings, airfields, rail ways, ports and other civil works. To engage in deep
foundation excavation for specialized electronically works, tunneling ready
mix concrete production and pouring, demolishing services, render a concrete
and steel structure-based building technology and construction solution
related to prefabricated building and conventional system, etc.

1
The corporation is the result of the amalgamation of two formerly
independent public enterprises, namely the Ethiopian road construction
corporation and the Ethiopian water works construction enterprise. While it is
a recent phenomenon, which is established on December 18/2015, its history
part of the history of the above-mentioned former enterprises and hence can
be traced back to the late 1940s and early 1950s.

Furthermore, the vision and mission of the corporation is presented below:

Vision: The product starts with our organization vision that say’s “To be one
of the best ten east and central Africa construction and manufacturing
companies by the year 2030 G.C.” and the product must sit squarely in the
strategic vision of the corporation. That vision feeds the development of the
product and conveys energy and excitement to our customers. It outlines our
customers, what they need, and how we will address those needs. The
corporation might even get a sense of what it could become and when it
might reach its end stage.

Mission: The Corporation has a vision what we want to achieve at the

corporate level. Now it needs the information that turns this vision in to reality.
The corporation states a mission as “by using skilled man power and modern
technology, it has the mission to deliver quality engineering, construction and
investment works domestically and overseas; to assemble construction
equipment and vehicles; as well as to manufacture spare parts; deliver
maintenance service and to rent construction equipment, machineries,
warehouses and buildings.”

As it has stated in the introduction part of this document, the demand for
wood products is also increasing in proportion to the economic and industrial
development. Currently, the demand for such product is met through import
and few local suppliers.

To fill the gap that is seen in supply side and better help in the growth of the
economic and industrial development demand, it is imperative to increase the
local production of such materials and substitute imports. This will save
foreign currency expenditure of the country and creates job opportunity for

2
unemployed citizens.

Therefore, the establishment of a huge Wood Products Production Center, in

addition to the vision and focus areas of the corporation, it is importantly
desired as to be introduced as a new product development. This solves the
specified gap and can highly boost its profit at maximum level in a short-term,
and the production site is located at Construction Materials Production Center.
To successfully achieve planned objectives that contribute to the
establishment of production center in large-scale and profit maximization, the
corporation uses market strategy (the 4Ps) in the process of feasibility study
of the new product development.
1.1 Background

In Ethiopia, wood and other forest products supply comes from domestic
production and import. In the past about 85% of wood demand has been
covered by indigenous timber species logged from natural forests and
agroforest (Desalegn and Tadesse, 2010). In 2015 alone, Ethiopia imported
3.006 million m3 RWE of various industrial wood products worth
approximately USD 182.53 million, and the importation trend is increasing. In
fact, it more than doubled between 2007 and 2015 (FSR, 2015). The
increasing dependence on import is a matter of serious concern for the forest
sector in Ethiopia. The domestic industrial wood production was estimated to
be approximately 5.43 million m3 in 2015. On the other hand, the FSR (2015)
estimated total domestic production of industrial wood at approximately 7.4
million m3 RWE in 2013. The bulk of this wood production comes from
woodlots in the form of poles, used in both traditional and modern
construction.

Forest products demand has been highly exceeding the supply where the gap
has been still completed from import of forest products with hard currency
while there are potential timber species (Kassa and Ewnetu, 2014). At the
national level, there is a huge gap between demand and domestic sustainably
produced supply of wood products (WBISPP, 2004; FSR, 2015). This has
caused two economically unfavourable outcomes, First, it is driving
unsustainable extraction of wood from the natural forests, and hence the

3
degradation and loss of biodiversity. Second, this forces the country to
depend heavily on imported wood products for its wood-based industries.
Unless actions are taken quickly, the situation will drive further degradation of
the natural stands and affect the economic growth of the country through
competition for the scarce hard currency for importation of wood (Kassa and
Ewnetu, 2014). The gap in wood products supply from sustainable production
including fuel wood demand is approximately 80 million m3 (FSR, 2015). This
volume may reflect the illegal and unsustainable wood production from forest
and woodland used mainly for fuel wood and some furniture. Including the
import volume of wood, which is 3.124 million m3 RWE, about 83.124 million
m3 RWE is needed to ensure a properly and sustainably operating forest
sector in Ethiopia (NFSDP, 2018). The sustainable supply from domestic
sources on the other hand amounts only to 12 million m3 (Desalegn and
Tadesse, 2010); hence a huge gap exists between demand and supply for
wood products in the country. The FSR (2015) estimated 4.4 million m3 gap of
supply by the year 2033, excluding fuel wood. This is converted to 310,000 ha
of new well-managed forest stand. On the other hand, industrial round wood
supply gap was estimated 1.8 million m3 in 2013, mainly for construction and
furniture industry wood products (MEFCC, 2017).

The production of wood product is the major demand in most countries in the
world including Ethiopia. As seen from related literature, wood products are
one of the widely used within the increasing rate of economy in the form of
furniture that used for different purposes. Home, offices, schools, utensils are
few examples among many purposes. Using wood products is comfortable
and preferable everywhere at all level of societies.

Ethiopian Construction Works Corporation is an organization which put its

vision to be best known among top ten construction and manufacturing
companies in east and central Africa. In parallel to the growth of construction
sector, it is planned to be engaged in large-scale on the production of wood
products. Within fast increasing of the development of construction sector in
Ethiopia, the market demand for wood product is also increasing dramatically.
This shows that construction sector and wood products or furniture
production is inevitable that one depends on the other. The feasibility study,

4
hence important to know initial/investment cost and cash flow to launch the
production center in large-scale to satisfy market demand for both local and
overseas. By doing so, using marketing strategy mentioned in the document
of this study, the objectives will be attained in a short period of time, and it is
assumed that the corporation will more profitable from the production of
wood products by establishing own production center at Construction
Materials Production Center.

1.2 Objective
1.2.1 General Objective
The general objective of the feasibility study is to analyze whether the
establishment of wood products production center is feasible or not to
maximize the corporation profit.
1.2.2 Specific Objectives
In line with the above objective, the study has the following specific objectives:

 To analyze the cost-benefit of new product development of wood products

production center whether it is feasible or not in the next five years using
Net Present Value (NPV);

 To increase import substitutes of wood products by providing quality

products for market in large amount which satisfies market demand.

 To minimize the payment of foreign currency for the imported wood

products.

1.3 Significance/Importance
The purpose of the study is, after identifying the economic cost-benefit for
wood products, to develop the production center as to compete with local
market by providing high quality products and then increasing sustainability of
market share of the product and corporation profit at maximum level.

On the other hand, it is important in that it helps other experts as reference

document for additional study in the future.

1.4 Scope/Delimitation
It is obvious that there are different types of wood products used for various
purposes in the world, as well as in our country. Among wood products, the

5
study limited to those products selected by the corporation which satisfies
market demand, only. That is, doors, windows, desks, chairs, cupboard, bed
suite, children bed suite, office table, office chairs, meeting table, bookcase
table, computer desk, file cabinet, kitchen cabinets, dining table, dining chairs,
shelves (different types), partition, cladding.

1.5 Limitations
Undertaking every study has its own constraints and limitations. In the case of
this study, time and lack of data is among others. As given time to the study is
too short, it is not enough to gather appropriate data and to compile it. Also,
there is no enough related data that support to undertake the study.
Additionally, budget is another constraint for the study.

1.6 Organization of the document

The document is organized in seven parts. The first part contains introduction
which encompasses background, objective (general & specific), significance,
scope, and limitation. The second part contains market strategy (product,
price, place, promotion and people), the third part contains SWOT analysis,
and the fourth part explains costs while the fifth part contains Financial and
economic analysis, the sixth part encompasses net present value analysis
and the last part is the conclusion that has been drawn.

6
 2. MARKET STRATEGY

Before setting our strategy, let us see what marketing strategy, marketing and
marketing mix, and also marketing aim and purpose are. Different scholars
define differently as discussed below.
Marketing strategy
A marketing strategy is a long-term plan for achieving a company's goals by
understanding the needs of customers and creating a distinct and
sustainable competitive advantage. It encompasses everything from
determining who your customers are to deciding what channels you use to
reach those customers. Marketing strategy is also a process that can allow
an organization to concentrate its limited resources on the greatest
opportunities to increase sales and achieve a sustainable competitive
advantage.
Marketing
Marketing is the process by which companies create value for customers
and build strong customer relationships in order to capture value from
customers in return. (Principles of Marketing, 15e, Kotler and Armstrong,
2014). Marketing: The activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating,
communicating, delivering and exchanging offerings that have value for
customers, clients, partners, and society at large. (Marketing Management
14e, Kotler and Keller, 2012).

Marketing is the process by which companies create value for customers and
build strong customer relationships in order to capture value from customers
in return. (Principles of Marketing, 15e, Kotler and Armstrong, 2014).

The Marketing Concept is a philosophy. It makes the customer, and the

satisfaction of his or her needs, the focal point of all business activities. It is
driven by senior managers who are passionate about delighting their
customers. Marketing is not only much broader than selling; it is not a
specialized activity at all. It encompasses the entire business. It is the whole
business seen from the point of view of the final result, that is, from the
customer's point of view. Concern and responsibility for marketing must
therefore permeate all areas of the enterprise. (Peter F. Drucker)

7
Marketing is a societal process by which individuals and groups obtain what
they need and want through creating, offering, and freely exchanging products
and services of value with others. (Philip Kotler)

Marketing is getting the right product or service to the right people (target
market), at the right time, at the right place, at the right price, with the right
partners, plus right communication, promotion and presentation.

Marketing is the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing,

promotion and distribution of ideas, goods and services to create exchanges
that satisfy the perceived needs, wants, and objectives of individuals and
organizations. (Contemporary Advertising, 14e, Arens, Weigold, Arens, 2013).

Marketing is the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing,

promotion and distribution of goods and services to facilitate exchanges that
satisfy individual and organizational objectives. (Understanding Business,
Nickels, McHugh, McHugh, 2008)

Marketing is the performance of activities that seek to accomplish an

organization’s objectives by anticipating customer or client needs and
directing a flow of need satisfying goods and services from producer to
customer or client. (Basic Marketing: A Marketing Strategy Planning Approach
19e by Jr., William Perreault, Joseph Cannon and E. Jerome McCarthy, 2013)

The purpose of Marketing

The purpose of Marketing is to sell more stuff to more people more often for
more money in order to make more profit. (Sergio Zyman). Marketing Mix is
the combination of four elements, called the 4P’s (Product, Price, Promotion
and Place), that every company has the option of adding, subtracting, or
modifying in order to create a desired marketing strategy. (Philip Kotler).

The Marketing Mix is the set of tactical marketing tools--Product, Price,

Promotion and Place--that the firm blends to produce the response it wants in
the target markets. (Principles of Marketing, 15e, Kotler and Armstrong, 2014).
Referring the above scholars review and perspectives, the Corporation wood
products marketing strategy can be framed as with 4Ps: (product, price, place,
and promotion) thus discussed below:

8
These are some of the key elements we will need to start framing our
marketing plan:

 Product: while will spell out the unique designs, features, services, and
other elements that describe our products, our marketing plan covers
more than the details. It’s a positioning statement that defines what
makes our product different. Make sure that the qualities of our products
(wooden products) are satisfying our customer’s need.

 Price: when we set our pricing, we need to consider several factors. First,
we know how much it costs to make our product. Then, we need to know
how much value customers will assign our product. Consider
marketplace conditions: is our product in high demand? Are there a lot of
competitors who will respond with pricing strategies of their own? What
kinds of discounts, sales, payment periods, or other terms can we
include with our pricing? The bottom line is that our product is only worth
what our customers are willing to pay, so make sure we understand our
product’s value in the marketplace.

 Place: place can mean the brick-and-mortar store where customers find
out our product, but it also extends to include all the distribution
channels we use to get our product to our customers. Delivery methods
vary widely depending on product, but the goal is getting our product in
to the marketplace. Thus, based on our products type our market place
is at construction materials production centre in the corporation.

 Promotion: This may seem like the most natural part of marketing
product. Promotion includes all the channels and methods we will use to
reach customers about the value of our product. Tactics include
advertising, sales, events, email marketing, social media, public media,
and more. Mainly the corporation uses corporation’s website to promote
and advertise those wooden products. The expected budget will be
allocated by communication affair’s department.

 Process: Think of process as a pipeline for our product. This is

essentially important if we deliver a service. For a start-up, the first

9
 product launch has several benefits. First, we get our product in to the
marketplace. Then, we also learn how to improve our process in
subsequent product development. For any company, the process always
reveals our strengths and our opportunities for improvement.

 People: The people behind our product are critical to marketing the
product. From the employee and product development team, to sale and
pricing team, our success depends on our people. Do we have enough
staff to handle the launch and product fulfilment? Have we given our
sales team everything they need to explain what sets our product apart?

 Physical evidence: Successful product marketing fosters a superior

customer experience. How does our messaging shape the perception of
our products, whether it’s in a store or not? The consumer experience
could be the biggest differentiator for our product.

The 4P’s as the 4C’s;

The four Ps are business focused, but product marketing is customer focused.
To accommodate product marketing and put a customer ahead of the seller,
the four C’s approach was developed in the 1990s: customer, cost,
convenience, and communication.

 Customer solutions, not product: customers want to buy a solution to

their problem, not simply purchase a product.

 Cost, not price: what is the value of the product to the consumer, and is
the price point something they are willing to pay?

 Convenience, not place: how easy is it for customers to find and buy
our product?

 Communication, not promotion: promotion is one-way messaging

from the company to the consumer. By setting up social channels and
other ways for customers to offer feedback and insight, we create
value and loyalty.

10
 3. SWOT ANALYSIS

Managing the marketing function begin with a complete analysis of the

company’s situation. The marketer should conduct a SWOT analysis by which
it evaluates the company’s strength (S), weakness (W), opportunity (O) and
threats (T). The company should analysis its market and marketing
environment to find attractive opportunity and identify its threats. It should
analysis its strength and weakness as well as current and possible marketing
action to determine to which opportunity is the best to achieve our goal. The
main goal is to match the company’s objective with current conditions.

 Strength: It includes internal capabilities; resources and a positive

situational factor that may help the company serve its customer and
achieve its objectives.

 Weakness: It includes internal limitations and negative situational factors

that may interfere with the company’s performance.

 Opportunity: It is the favourable factors if trends in the external

environment that the company may be able to exploit to its advantages.
There is more possibility to deal with the consumer and we can enable to
create the value for the customer to meet their need. Currently people
need more modified products due to modernization and the change in
technology our product may be the best in satisfying their needs.

 Threat: The threats are unfavourable external factor for the company that
may present challenges to performance.

In line with the above definition, currently SWOT analysis in the process of
producing and marketing of wooden products as Ethiopian Construction
Works Corporation is analysed as below:

11
 Table 1: SWOT analysis of Wood products
STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES OPPORTUNITIES THREATS

 Being able to organize the  Absence of independent Marketing  Government’s Policy: It is highly  Unexpected increase in
production department team and promotion Department; concentrated to manufacturing foreign currency exchange;

& build a manufacturing  Lack of adequate concern for sectors;  Market instability due to
increment of inflation;
shade efficiently; marketing and promotion  It can cover and diversify to every
 Instability of current
 Good motivation of  Limited segment of potential part of the country easily as it is
political and socio-
managements and workers to customers as the production of government organization;
economic situation of the
produce a quality product product is new to our corporation;  Easily accessible to our customers
country;
 Buying and fulfilling  Lack of short-term trainings that (Near to main road);  There may be experienced
Manufacturing equipment’s develop experts’ skill.  Convenient market location; competitors;
by allocating enough budget;  Absence of feasibility study at the  Availability of Customer’s trust as it  Turnover of professional
 Availability of organized stage of proposal development to is governmental owner; or trained experts;
manpower and other launch the production centre.  Availability of digital marketing in  Lack of raw materials.

resource’s;  Lack to develop a benefit and the country; E.g., Timber

 Failed, unless we do better
 Availability of quality incentive system to satisfy  The high quality and durability of the
advertisement and
products; employee’s need & increase their products delivered to customers.
marketing promotion;
motivation for productivity;
 There may be customer’s
demand shift due to
substitution of new
products.

12
 4. COSTS

The Cost-Benefit Analysis can serve as a decision-making tool to address all

the costs and the corresponding associated benefits worth to the owner.

4.1 Costs (Direct, Indirect, Intangible & Opportunity)

Direct: Direct costs, which include expenses directly related to the production
or development of a product or service (or the implementation of a project or
business decision). These costs include labour costs, manufacturing costs,
materials costs, and inventory costs. In our case, in the production of wood
products, the following are direct cost items.

 Gypsum powder, fibre, edible oil, frame, product shelf, table, chemical,
cement, mould, granite

 Labour: labour costs include standard wages, supplementary pay,

social service payments, supplements, & other payments

Indirect: These are typically fixed expenses, such as utilities and rent, that
contribute to the overhead of conducting business.

 Overhead Costs: Costs incurred not to the direct itemized works but
indirectly to the overall production and performance of the work. E.g.,
Secretarial services, Transportation facilities, administrative works,
utility provisions: energy, water, communication, sanitation.

Intangible costs: These are any current and future costs that are difficult to
measure and quantify. Examples may include decreases in productivity levels
while a new business process is rolled out, or reduced customer satisfaction
after a change in customer service processes that leads to fewer repeat buys.

Opportunity costs: This refers to lost benefits, or opportunities, that arise

when a business pursues one product or strategy over another.

13
 5. FINANCIAL AND ECONOMIC ANALYSIS

Table 2: Comparisons with market price

ite Description unit QTY Market ECWC Selling

m Price/pc Price
1 Gypsum board pc 1.00 65.00 89.00
(1.00*0.60m)
2 Gypsum block pc 1.00 128.00 134.00
(0.67*0.52*0.10m)
3 Gypsum Frame pc 1.00 50.00 56.00
(2.50*0.15m)
Table 3: Initial Investment Cost

Item Description Unit Quantity Total Cost

Equipment Costs
1 RHS 80*80*3mm pcs 8 49,495.68
2 RHS 40*40*2mm pcs 20 40,243.40
3 RHS 25*25*1.5mm pcs 70 60,565.40
4 RHS 10*10*1mm pcs 92 16,832.00
5 Imported Granite pcs 97 540,500.00
6 Mold for block pcs 10 1,373,913.00
7 Mold for frame pcs 50 125,000.00
8 Tools 20,000.00
Man Power costs
9 Labor 2,695,680.00
10 Forman 30,000.00
Material Costs
11 Gypsum Powder 5,250,902.40
12 Fiber 50,000.00
13 Edible oil 60,000.00
14 Chemical 100,000.00
15 Cement 60,000.00
Miscellaneous
16 Miscellaneous costs 500,000.00
Total cost 10,973,132.00

14
 Table 4: First year cash flow

Item Description Unit Monthly Annual Price Total cash

Production Production (Birr)
1 Gypsum Board
(1.00*0.60m) pcs 2,318,400.00 89.00 206,337,600.00
193,200.00
2 Gypsum Block
(0.67*0.52*0.10m) pcs 45,000.00 540,000.00 134.00 72,360,000.00
3 Gypsum Frame
2.50*0.15m pcs 180,000.00 2,160,000.00 56.00 120,960,000.00

Total (Birr) 399,657,600.00

15
 6. NET PRESENT VALUE ANALYSIS

The analysis concerned with gypsum products which consider gypsum board,
block and frame whether investing a project is feasible. That is, it possible or
impossible and profitable or unprofitable in the future. The costs associated
with introducing the product and the expected cash flows over the next five
years are as follow. The appropriate discount rate is 20% per year. The study
used NPV the reason is that NPV is preferred for the feasibility study of a
single project and the formula depicted below

∑ ∑
T T
Bt. Ct
NPV = t -
t=1
(1+r) t=0
(1+r)t

Where:
Where, Bt. = the benefit or return at the end of year t
Ct. = the cash outlay or investment at the end of year t
r = the required return Costs: (Birr)
Total Cost: 10,973,132.00
 Initial Cost: Birr 10,973,132.00 and r = 20%
 The cash flows (Birr) over the next five years with an increase in 10% each
year
 Year 1 total cash = 399,657,600.00
 Year 2 total cash= 439,623,360.00
 Year 3 total cash= 483,585,696.00
 Year 4 total cash= 531,944,265.60
 Year 5 total cash= 585,138,692.16
Table 5: Net Present Value of proposed project

Year Cash Flow (Birr) Present Value PV (Cash Flow)

0 (10,973,132.00) f1.00
t (10,973,132.00)
1
1 399,657,600.00 (1.2) 333,048,000.00
2
2 439,623,360.00 (1.2) 305,294,000.00
3 483,585,696.00 (1.2)3 279,852,833.33
4 531,944,265.60 (1.2)4 256,531,763.89
5 585,138,692.16 (1.2)5 235,154,116.90

16
 NPV = 1,398,907,582.00

NPV = Birr 1,398,907,582.00 The net present value is shown positive with
project required return accounted 20% to compensate for time and risk.

Disadvantages of Concrete Blocks:

 The expense of constructing a residence out of concrete blocks is

significantly higher.
 Some of the blocks may need to be cut to reach critical systems.
 Concrete block homes aren’t usually attractive from the outside.
 Over time, concrete blocks may be subject to water seepage.
 Concrete blocks are heavier and harder to work with.
Advantages of gypsum blocks and boards

 Gypsum blocks are inexpensive and are reliable. They don't require
much maintenance and no calibration is required. Disadvantages: Only
useful in refill point of soil. This can't measure moisture when soil is in
saturation.

 Gypsum boards are also utilized to make various lightweight

architectural ornaments. The ceilings of the buildings are similarly
made of gypsum tiles.

 Partitions and ceilings are made of gypsum products.

 In the building of partition walls, gypsum blocks are employed

 Gypsum boards give a smooth, continuous surface to which you can

apply paint directly.

 Gypsum has the property of balancing the building’s indoor

temperature and humidity. Gypsum is a low-emission building material
that provides excellent thermal and acoustic insulation.

 The use of gypsum goods within the budget boosts the creativity of
architects. It offers a wide range of attractive design options.

 The gypsum products are simple to install and do not necessitate the

17
 use of trained staff. The installation is simple, clean, and quick.

 A wide range of gypsum products is available to meet a variety of

practical and aesthetic needs.

Concrete block Vs Gypsum block.

 The gypsum block is easier to work with, light weight, better

acoustically.

 Concrete block is stronger but heavier and harder to work with.

 Gypsum blocks are just as good for a better price

 Gypsum blocks, are the preferred choice of engineers, architects, and

interior designers in luxury housing projects, office blocks, and
community buildings.

 Gypsum blocks bear the Green Label and comply with the international
ISO Standard.

Generally, gypsum blocks are more economical than hollow concrete blocks.
For example, for 1-meter square partition wall with the construction of hollow
concrete block it requires 720.00 birr only for materials and for the
construction of gypsum block it requires 400.00 birr only for materials and
this shows that how much gypsum block is more economical than that of
hollow concrete blocks.

18
 7. CONCLUSIONS

From the current market prices, our price is higher but there exists a greater
quality difference in those of the products even though, the price is greater the
quality of our product is good and the price is feasible.

The price may vary accordingly the used gypsum types which has different
market price for different gypsum types and it has an impact on the price and
the quality of the product.

The above analysis mainly focuses on the feasibility of gypsum products

those are gypsum boards, gypsum blocks and gypsum frames. From the
analysis, the net present value of the project is greater than zero and it is
economically feasible. So that, we concluded that the project is acceptable.

19
 References
FSR, (2015). Forest sector review focus on commercial forestry and
industrialization, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Kassa, H. and Ewnetu, Z., (2014). The importance of forestry in Ethiopia and
the need for investing in the sector to meet national goals and
international commitments (unpublished report).

MEFCC (Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change) (2017) Forest

change detection and emissionreduction, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

NFSDP, (2018). National Forest Sector Development Program, Ethiopia

Volume II: Program Pillars, Action Areas and Targets 2018.

20
 APPENDICES
Figure 1: Gypsum Block mould preparation

Figure 2: Gypsum Board Preparation

21
22