2merkato

An estimated 65 percent of the construction work on the Gibe III hydroelectric power plant has been completed according to Azeb Asnake, Project Manager.

The project is progressing as per schedule with the construction of the tunnel, two dams and a bridge across the Omo River already undertaken said Azeb.

The 32 billion birr project is one of the biggest hydroelectric projects in the world with the expected capacity to generate 1,870 Mega Watts of power she said. The project is intended to help develop a national green economy added Azeb.

The Ethiopian Ministry of Industry signed with 13 local contractors for construction projects at Bole Lemi Industrial Park. The agreements signed are part of the 1.2 billion birr civil works project at the park.

The projects which include the construction of five industrial sheds, four office blocks are intended to be completed within three months from the day the agreement was signed.

The contractors were selected by the MoI on the basis of their performance on other government projects and not through the usual bidding process because of the need to finalize the project within a short period of time said Tadesse Haile, Minister of State for Industry.

Ethiopia is on track to complete mega dam projects towards enhancing its role on the East African Power market according to Alemayhu Tegenu, State Minister.

The primary dam, the 4.1 billion US dollar Grand Renaissance Dam is on track for completion by the 2015 deadline he said.

Two other smaller dams are also expected to launch operations at the same time to generate a combined 8 thousand Mega Watts at full capacity explained Alemayhu.

United Bank, Ethiopia selected Eskender Woubetu & Partners Consulting Architects, as the winner of the competition to design a headquarter building.It is estimated that the future headquarter building will cost 800 million birr to complete.

The design competition launched five months ago was closed at an event held at the Hilton hotel. The two other finalists were Gereta Consult and K2N architects.  

The bank invited architectural firms to present a design for a 30 storey building with additional four leveled basement for parking on a 3338 meter square plot of land it acquired in the Senga Tera area of Addis Ababa.

The Ethiopian Roads Authority is set to construct ten new roads that will link newly constructed sugar factories with the national road network.

The roads are intended to link the sugar factories being constructed in mainly remote areas. It is expected that ERA will float bids for the construction of the 574 kilometers of roads required to realize this project. The road construction plan calls for 519 kilometers of asphalt roads and 55 kilometers of gravel roads according to sources.

ERA will float the first five tenders within the next 2 months it was said.

The Ethiopian Privatization and Public Enterprises Supervisory Agency approved the proposal tabled for the construction of a tantalum processing plant at the Kenticha Tantalum Mine.

The proposal for the construction of the plant was tabled by the Ethiopian Minerals Development sc. which owns the mine, last month.

It is to be remembered that the Ministry of Mines had counseled the EMDE to look towards producing value added tantalum at the Kenticha mine.

The Ethiopian Ministry of Urban Development and Construction revealed the final draft of the urban housing policy and strategy.
The strategy proposes the increase of housing through eight modalities to solve housing shortage in urban areas.

The document was presented to regional and federal officials, members of the House of Representatives, private real estate developers and experts in the sector.

The government will play an important role in developing urban housing as it is to be the sole executor of five of the eight means of increasing available housing according to the housing policy.

The Ethiopian Roads Authority is set to implement a five year ‘Bridge Improvement Master Plan’ to help archive information on bridges and to register the standard of service in the country.

The project is expected to cost above 394 million birr according to Samson Wondimu, Head of Public Relations with the authority.

About 20 million birr has been allocated for the construction and maintenance of bridges in this fiscal year he said.

ICM won the bid to construct the new cargo terminal for Ethiopian Airlines located at the Addis Ababa Bole International Airport.

The bid was between the German ICM and a Chinese company and the former won the contract because they proposed the best design and financial offer said Tewolde Gebremariam, Chief Executive Officer. ICM is expected with the well known Varnero Construction firm according to Tewolde.

The new state of the art cargo terminal can handle 1.2 million tons. It is expected that the project will be completed in two sections each with the capacity to hold 600 thousand tons. The first phase of the construction will cost an estimated 110 million Euros.

The plan to build a new international airport proposed by the Ethiopian Airports Enterprise has been given the green light by Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn.

It is expected that the Ministry of Transport will table the proposal to the Council of Ministers for its endorsement to be forwarded to the Parliament according to an official with the administration. It is expected that the project will be financed by a loan from the Chinese EXIM Bank he added.  

The Airports Enterprise has been conducting a study on the launch of a new international airport for the past two years.
he Ethiopian Airports Enterprise announced that it expects to raise more than one billion birr from the various services that it renders in the new budget year.