Viewpoints | Nov 16,2019
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]
Viewpoints | Nov 16,2019
Fortune News | May 18,2019
Commentaries | Aug 01,2020
Fortune News | Nov 14,2019
Radar | Nov 27,2021
Commentaries | Mar 21,2020
Commentaries | Oct 30,2021
Commentaries | Sep 18,2021
Fortune News | Feb 16,2019
Fortune News | Jan 19,2019
July 2 , 2022 . By RUTH TAYE
On a rainy afternoon last week, a coffee processing facility in the capital's Akaki-Qality District was abuzz with activ...
November 27 , 2021
Against my will, I have witnessed the most terrible defeat of reason and the most sa...
November 13 , 2021
Plans and reality do not always gel. They rarely do in a fast-moving world. Every act...
October 16 , 2021 . By HAWI DADHI
Residing in a country with no capital market, an organised marketplace for trading se...
July 2 , 2022
After nearly two years since the civil war broke out in northern Ethiopia, adversarie...
June 25 , 2022
It is not the best of times to be in charge of governance in Ethiopia, whether at the...
June 18 , 2022
Some of Ethiopia's economic policymakers may take solace from realising that inflatio...
June 11 , 2022
The stereotype many people have of parliamentarians is as clueless seat fillers who exist to rubber stamp legislative bi...
Loading your updates...
Put your comments here