The African Union (AU) requested the Addis Abeba City Administration to grant a 60-year lease free title deed to MIDROC Ethiopia for the 25,000sqm plot upon which it is erecting a five-star hotel in the premises of the AU. The City Administration was discussing the request in its lease board meeting into Friday evening as Fortune went to press.

The AU also requested the Administration to consider the side road between the existing and new sites of the AU as part of its compound and to clear private properties within the boundaries of the AU. Moreover, it appealed for inclusion in the city’s master plan of the surrounding areas in relation to function, aesthetics and security requirements of the AU’s projects.

1.  The African Union (AU) Headquarters

2.      The 0.5Km public road AU wants to see incorporated into its holdings

3.      The former Addis Abeba Prison Centre

4.      The Southeast side where AU asked the City Administration to relocate residents

5.      The 25,000Sqm plot to the south where AU has contracted MIDROC Ethiopia to build and operate a five-star hotel projected to cost 1.5 billion Br. AU asked for a lease free title deed to be transferred to the company

6.      A public road on the north side that AU wants to see demolished 

MIDROC Ethiopia won the tender floated by the Commission for the hotel and has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on November 19, 2007. The 1.5 billion Br investment necessary for the construction will be footed by MIDROC who will also own and manage the hotel.

Wubishet Berhanu (PhD), general manager of Addis Abeba, has on January 4, 2007 instructed the Addis Abeba Land Development and Administration Authority to assess the request. 

The Ethiopian government granted 120,000sqm of land to the AU Commission for the construction of the new conference centre and office complex as well as a five-star hotel project. The plot rests at the former federal prison area commonly know as kerchele.

The AU is financing the constructions with the fund it secured from China.
 

The construction of the AU projects is expected to be completed at the end of 2010.

According to the Commission, the hotel construction is needed due to lack of appropriate accommodation in the city for its guests, delegates and invitees.

A study conducted by the Ministry of Works and Urban Development (MWUD) revealed that Addis Abeba needs 10,000 hotel beds. The Prime Minister’s Office also had instructed the city to parcel 50 plots appropriate for hotel constructions in the city. Though the Administration auctioned nine plots in the first round on December 11, 2007, the tender was cancelled due to lack of bidders.

One of the 10 bidders of this tender was MIDROC, which envisaged constructing a four-star hotel in front of Bole Medhanialem in Bole District.

By WUDINEH ZENEBE

SPECIAL TO FORTUNE