4.1 Urban Economy and Role of the Town

Halaba Kulito town is administration and trade center. The town has 12 medium hotels, four restaurants, 25 cafes, 40 grinding mills, five construction materials shops and 31 retail trades. In the town there are two commercial banks and micro financial institutions providing services. Except for these, there are no any other banks and insurances. The average annual revenue of the municipality within the 2006/07 – 2010/2011 period was 1, 718, 2 04.91 Birr and in terms of the potential of the town this is said to be low.

The town has an industrial zone having road and electricity. Two flour factories and one spice production factory are in the process of establishment. In addition there are 10 Hollow Concrete Block production enterprises, 15 metal and wood works, one hand craft and 40 gain mills. There are also nine Micro and Small Scales Enterprises organized in different sectors, which created job opportunities for 1818 people. Furthermore; there are six blocks for MSEs clusters. There are different grain and agricultural products supplied to the town. The spice production in the area makes the town popular at the national level. The town serves as distribution center for commercial and industrial products to the surrounding rural areas and small towns.

Regarding investment, there are 35 projects with a capital of 20 million of which some of them have started production while some are still at the construction level.

Halaba Kulito has urban-rural economic linkages with the surrounding areas of Hawassa, Shashemene and Addis Ababa. The town gets grain products, livestock supply, natural resources and labor from surrounding areas, agricultural inputs from Awassa and Shashamanne towns manufacturing and commercial products and some construction materials from Addis Ababa while vegetables especially spices  are sent from the town to other areas.