Ethiopian Airlines, Ethiopia’s flag carrier, is seeking international contractors to construct a four star hotel near Bole 
International Airport, Addis Ababa. The airline plans to have the hotel completed in two and a half years.
Ethiopian requested international construction firms to put in their bids for the ‘design and build’ of the hotel project on a turn-key contract basis.
It is to be remembered that the airline had cancelled a previous invitation for consultants for this project made in 2009 wishing to evaluate other alternatives.
The carrier opted for a construction company to ‘design and build’ the hotel with consulting firms to be hired later on to review the design and offer supervisory support alongside contract administration services according to sources.Ethiopian Airlines reached an agreement with the China-Africa Development Fund and HNA Hotels and Resorts Group valued at 60 million US dollars, in November of 2009. The joint venture agreement reached amongst the three parties establishes that Ethiopian will retain a 53% share while CAD gets 28.3% and HNA 18.8% of total shares.
The construction of the hotel has been delayed for more than 2 years after the agreement was reached and no comment has been made by Ethiopian Airline officials if the joint venture arrangement is still in effect as the airline proceeds to invite construction firms to tender proposals for the construction of the hotel.
Source: Addis Fortune
