Salini Construction Spa has expressed interest in constructing the headquarters of the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia.

The Italian construction company responded to a call for interest in the design and construction of the 52 storey building. Twenty other international bidders also expressed interest in the project.

In 2009 Commercial Bank awarded the design to Universal Consultants partnering with Henn Architekten a German company. Various challenges resulted in this deal failing to materialize.

Three months ago the bank issued another invitation for consultancy services to handle the design modification and supervision.

The Commercial Bank has selected five companies from a total of 12 local and international companies.

The companies selected are Beza Consult, Al Ajimi of United Arab Emirates, JV - MH Engineering, Tata Consulting Engineers Ltd of India with Arup of South Africa, Geretta Consult, and A1 Consulting Group of the US with Perkins, Arab Consulting Engineers Ltd of Egypt, Heery, Kothri of India and Klings Construction of Germany.

The bank held meetings with the selected bidders held about the bidding and its amendments. The companies have to submit their bid offers by December 15, 2011.

The bank changed the height of the building from 42-storeys, to 52 storeys.

It is to be remembered that The Addis Ababa City Administration announced that the building height regulation has been raised to 55 floors. Buildings in Addis were previously limited to a maximum of 20 floors.

The regulation was revised to take into consideration elements including environmental impact, infrastructural development, and security concerns as well as maintaining historical sites according to city administration and Urban Information and Plan Institute officials.  

Source: Addis Fortune