Currently the college is undertaking a project in order to become Center of Excellence in Road Transport sector, particularly in Automotive technology. In order to achieve this, the College coined project proposal and won USD 12.85 million from the World Bank– Via East Africa Skills Transformation Regional Integration Project (EASTRIP). So as to properly implement this huge amount of money, the college set up Industrial Advisory Board, which members came from the labor industries or companies. The chairperson of the IAB and mayor of Kombolcha City, Dr. Kemal Zeynu, made the kick off speech by welcoming the board members. He acclaimed the College management and the staff for their organized team work and consorted action that helped win a huge USD 12.85, to make the automotive technology department Center of Excellence at national as well as East African level. He further added that this would not happen if the management and its staff did not work hand in glove. Finally, the Chairman said that the project fund would convey valuable message, not only to the college but also to the local community, industries, and the country at large. He urged the board members they would work in collaboration with the college by offering expertise advise and support for proper implementation of the project. Abraham Lebeza, monitoring & evaluation specialist of EASTRIP, briefed the current progress of the project in the scheme of realizing Kombolcha Polytechnic College– Automotive Technology Department to be Center of Excellence. In the report the spread of COVID 19 has had a negative impact on the performance of the project. The report identified that there is low level of female participation in automotive technology sector. This issue caught the attention of participants and later became the major point for deliberation. The low quality of training (even those automotive graduates have not been equipped with the necessary skills required of them in the labor market) was another critical issue off discussion raised by automotive related company leaders from board members. Discussants also suggest the occupational standard be prepared with the full participation of industry experts.