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The Ministry of Works and Urban Development (MoWUD)
wants the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) and the
state Housing Agency (GHA) to provide one billion
Birr to finance the paid-up capital of the newly
established Housing Development Corporation.
The Ministry, which has been facilitating the
establishment of the corporation, has requested the
Ministry of Finance and Economic Development (MoFED)
to approve half a billion Birr from each of these
state enterprises as investment in the equity of the
new agency.
CBE is expected to dish out the finances to the
Corporation, which is a profitable enterprise,
according to Arkebe Oqubay, state minister for MoWUD.
But MoFED is pondering how it could allocate funding
from the non-profit making housing agency, formerly
known as the Rented Houses Agency (RHA).
"We are discussing this issue with MoFED, and expect
to finalise it in June this year," State Minister
Arkebe told Fortune.
The Corporation was established on January 18, 2008,
following a decision made by the Council of
Ministers, and it is expected to invest in billions
for housing construction in the years ahead. The
Corporation has set out to build about 200
skyscrapers with 25-30 stories in a bid to curb the
housing shortage in the city. The structures will be
constructed on plots under the grip of the Housing
Agency demolition of existing villas, and on vast
tracts of land held by state agencies in the central
part of Addis Abeba.
"The plots have been already arranged," said Arkebe.
"What remains is a final decision."
Plots preferred for the constructions are located in
places that have had adequate sewerage systems
installed by the Addis Abeba Water and Sewerage
Authority, and where the Addis Abeba master-plan
does not prohibit the construction of giant
structures.
The design and construction of the condominiums is
planned to be carried out by Chinese companies.
"If the constructions are supported by modern
technologies, local contractors will have a lot to
learn from it," Samuel Tafesse, general manager and
major shareholder of Sunshine Construction, told
Fortune. "But how to undertake their future
maintenance should also be considered now."
The condominiums will be the tallest amid the
current boom in constructions. The tallest building
now is the 22-storey Nani Building, facing Ghion
Hotel. It was constructed and is owned by Huda Real
Estate, a subsidiary company of Midroc Ethiopia.
The housing corporation was established with a
subscribed capital of four billion Birr, in a bid to
alleviate the housing problem of the middle income
urbanities. A study conducted by the MoWUD shows
that there is a need for 400,000 additional housing
in Addis Abeba alone. The federal government has in
2006/2007 launched a consolidated housing
development project in 70 towns, including Addis
Abeba, with a projected cost of 24 billion Br.
Higher income group are presumed to purchase houses
from private real estate developers. The Addis Abeba
City Caretaker Administration has until June 2007
granted licenses to 408 developers who are
envisaging investing 42.9 billion Br.
The establishment of the Corporation has culminated
in the move by the state Housing Agency to construct
apartments. Accountable to the MoWUD, the latter
solely focuses on administering 16,000 existing
houses in Addis Abeba and Dire Dawa, which fall
under its control a year after the nationalization
of urban land and extra houses, in 1975. It
restructured and baptized itself to its current name
five months ago.
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