Finicha'a

Finicha'a
Finicha'a Location within Ethiopia
Coordinates:
Country	Ethiopia
Region	Oromia
Zone	Horo Gudru Welega Zone
Elevation	1,302 m (4,272 ft)
Population (2005)
• Total	11,134
Time zone	EAT (UTC+3)

Finicha'a (also transliterated Finchawa) is a town in western Ethiopia. Located in the Horo Gudru Welega Zone of the Oromia Region, this town has a latitude and longitude of with an altitude of 1302 meters above sea level. Finicha'a hosts an airport (ICAO code HAFN, IATA code FNH) which consists of an unpaved airstrip about 1480 meters in length. It is the administrative center of Abay Chomen woreda.

Overview

Finicha'a is near the Fincha Dam, which was inaugurated by Emperor Haile Selassie in November 1973. At the time the dam was the largest hydro-electric project in the country, built at a cost of over Birr 81 million and with a power output of 84 MW, more than the combined output of the other four power stations which existed at the time. The hydroelectric power plant was overhauled in March 1999 by the Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation at a cost of US $3 million, increasing its hydroelectric capacity to 100 MW.

Previously Fincha was a location of habitat for the endangered African wild dog, Lycaon pictus, but that canid is thought to be extirpated from the region due to human population expansion.

Demographics

Based on figures from the Central Statistical Agency in 2005, this town has an estimated total population of 11,134 of whom 5,351 are men and 5,783 are women. The 1994 census reported this town had a total population of 6,233 of whom 2,902 were men and 3,331 were women.

Further reading

• Okbazghi Yohannes. 2008. Water Resources and Inter-Riparian Relations in the Nile Basin: The Search for an Integrative Discourse, SUNY Press, ISBN 978-0-7914-7431-0. 256 pages