Ethiopia is drafting a new building code to replace the existing one, adopted 18 years ago. The new code is to be modeled after European, U.S. and Singapore building codes.

The Ministry of Urban Development and Construction contracted the Addis Abeba Institute of Technology (AAIT), in January 2012, to draft the code for a fee of 2.6 million Br. A team of 50 professionals, including professors, contractors and architects from across the capital, have been working on the document.

“We expect the whole draft within 45 days,” Yoseph Birru (Dr), head of the Construction Industry Development and Regulatory Bureau of the MoUDC, said.

The draft code  takes into consideration earthquake and wind effects, which in turn require new designing codes, the use of more re-bars in construction and bigger structural frameworks in buildings, Yoseph explained.

A draft to establish a Construction Council which will manage the implementation of the code, is also underway.

The complete draft will be presented to the Ethiopian Standardization Agency before it is sent for ratification by a national secretariat under the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology.

Source: Fortune