The design, supervision and contract administration work of the new stadium to be built around Bob Marley roundabout in Addis Ababa has been awarded for MH Engineering Plc by the Federal Sports Commission. The Stadium is dubbed Adey Abeba Stadium and said to accommodate 60,000 people, which actually is double the capacity of the Addis Ababa Stadium.
The 40 Million Birr contract was signed by Melese Haile (PhD), General Manager of MH, and Sport Commissioner, Abdisa Yadeta. According to Fortune, out of the total outlay, 24 Million Birr is reserved for design while a monthly fee of 640,000 Birr will be paid for two years as long as the construction lasts. Tibebu Gorfu, Facility Director at the Commission, noted Adey Abeba is going to be built on the grounds of the Commission’s Sports Academy and might cost up to Two Billion Birr.
The Sports Academy rests on 67 Hectares of land with 30 Hectares already dedicated to the construction of swimming pool, volleyball fiend, basketball court, football field and other additional facilities. Thus the remaining 27 Hectares are reserved for the new Stadium. The plot, according to the newspaper, was granted to the Commission by the government for the success the Ethiopian National Football Team achieved at the 10th African Cup of Nations.
Tibebu commented, “The project will be wholly financed by the Ethiopian government, and we have already received 205 Million Birr for initial works, before the construction begins.
MH will finalize the design work for the Stadium by February, Messele said. He furthered, Adey Abeba is going to be the first Ethiopian stadium to fulfill the requirements of FIFA and IAAF for World Cups and Olympic Games.
FIFA’s Technical Recommendation and Requirement for the Football Standards, stipulate stadiums that are built for the purpose of hosting World Cup final game are required to fulfill the following requirements; 60,000 seats, parking lot for 10,000 cars and a 100 square meters warm up area for each team.
Messle stated, “Other additional requirements are related to the safety of the spectators, surveillance, the technological inputs needed for the stadium, space that has to be left for different stakeholders and other general requirements”. “MH Engineering’s design will be conducted in accordance with the document,” he furthered.
MH Engineering Plc is the firm that also engaged in the same jobs with Bahir Dar, Gambella, Assosa and Nekemte stadiums.
Source: Fortune
