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Akir Construction Plc, which in May 2004 the Adama (Nazaret)
city administration office awarded the Town Arterial
Asphalt Road Project for 71 million Br, finalised
the construction and handed it over to the
administration on August 18, 2007. Though the 20Km
road instalment was supposed to be finalised within
a year, it was delayed an extra two years.
Transport Construction Design SC (TCDSCo) carried
out the design, supervision and monitoring of the
project which also included the constructions of two
major drainage systems and 13 moderately sized
bridges.
“The price increase in basic inputs like cement is
one of the reasons for the delay,” Addisu Anbesse
(Engineer), project manager of Akir, told Fortune.
“Our joint efforts with the city telecommunications,
water and sewerage and electric power offices to
clear the project area prior to the construction
also caused the delay, on top of the demolishing
works of houses.”
According to Addisu, an agreement to extend the
project deadline has been reached with TCDSCo.
Moreover, an extra six million Birr was spent on the
road project as the agreed upon project cost could
not fully cover the cost encountered due to the
increase in prices of goods.
With 11 different routes in the city, the divided
avenue is expected to lessen the traffic jams
witnessed in the city. It is estimated that almost
1,000 vehicles use the main trunk roads and the
construction of these arterial asphalt roads would
reduce the traffic jam by 70pc according to the city
administration.
Beshewa Teshome, project engineer at TCDSCo, told
Fortune that the reasons for the delay in the
construction has convinced the supervising company
as the clearing works of the telecommunication
cables, water pipes and electric poles has taken
significant time. On some spots, a change in design
has been necessitated, as some structures could not
be cleared, he added.
The six million Birr extra budget was taken from a
10 million Br reserve budget with the agreement of
both Akir and TCDSCo.
“The extra cost has been evaluated with respect to
the existing market price and we found it
inevitable,” said Beshewa.
The width of the handed over asphalt road ranges
from 20m to 40m, while the previous trunk roads in
the city, built by Kingnaham, a Korean construction
firm, are narrow, which the residents claim are
reasons for the frequent traffic accidents.
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