The Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation (ETC) is to build a 10-storey twin tower complex, which will house its strategic business units. ETC has 11 departments all together employing 8,122 people, 10 of them described as strategic services.
 

The building will be erected on a 1,000sqm plot the company owns behind its headquarters, on Gambia Street. The state owned consulting firm, Construction Designs S.C., has designed the architecture for a 400,000 Br fee.
 

The first design of the building was proposed to ETC in February 2006 and was returned for final work in July, according to Abraham Alemayehu, managing director of the consulting firm.
 

Abraham disclosed to Fortune that a public tender will be floated in four months to select the construction company. This was also confirmed when, in mid June 2006, Minister of Transport and Communication, Junedin Sado, told Parliament he would expect an agreement to be signed with a construction company in the next Ethiopian year.
 

Abraham projected that construction may take one year after the contract is awarded to a construction company.
 

Although officials at the ETC say they have yet to allocate budget to the construction, independent architects estimate that the company may spend over 22 million Br. However, the quality and the requirement of the finishing stage may put the cost even higher, said these architects.

ETC hopes to house all its operational departments it dubs strategic business units in its new building, sources in the company disclosed. The management department is the only unit not concerned.