Commentaries | Feb 15,2020
The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) is a step closer to initiating the renovation of Africa Hall. The Commission signed a contractual agreement with a consortium of local and international construction firms for the 28.2-million-dollar project.
The project was awarded to a joint venture, Africa Hall Projects FZE, created by the 38-year-old Italian construction firm CONSTRUZIONI 2000 S.R.I.; the UAE firm R.C. Trade; and the local firm Bridge Construction.
The agreement was signed between Alem Kiros, director for Africa Hall Projects FZE, and Carlos Haddad, ECA's director of administration, on May 10, 2019. The start date for the renovation work will be decided during a kickoff meeting planned later this month.
The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) is a step closer to initiating the renovation of Africa Hall. The Commission signed a contractual agreement with a consortium of local and international construction firms for the 28.2-million-dollar project.
The renovation will include infrastructure upgrades on the main African Hall building, a new entry building for visitors, a parking area, upgrades to the ECA compound perimeter wall and road work.
Located inside the ECA compound on Menelik II Avenue, the project is expected to be completed in 30 months. The renovation of the Hall was approved by the United Nations General Assembly with a budget of 57 million dollars some four years ago.
Built in 1961 by Emperor Haile Selassie, Africa Hall has served as the headquarters of ECA ever since. Considered a historic building, and having undergone an expansion in the 1970s, it was here that the Organisation of African Unity, later African Union, was founded.
The compound covers more than 200,000Sqm and has hundreds of offices, a library and other facilities. It has two large and medium conference halls and provides a meeting area of 2,200Sqm with a capacity of holding nearly 1,300 people.
It also has a large stained glass window in the foyer designed by Afework Tekle, a well-known Ethiopian artist. The artwork, divided into three parts, tells the story of "Africa Then", "Africa Then and Now", and "Africa Now and in the Future.”
The Hall is equipped with satellite communications, television and radio studios, recording and monitoring facilities and printing and copying services.
One expert applauds the renovation of the Africa Hall project.
“The renovation protects the natural cycle of the building and ecosystems,” says Aziza Abdulfetah, lecturer and chairperson of Landscape Architecture at the Ethiopian Institute of Architecture, Building Construction & City Development. “But the renovation should consider space for people such as green areas instead of parking lots, which should specifically be underground.”
PUBLISHED ON
May 18,2019 [ VOL
20 , NO
994]
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