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The construction of the apartment took six years to complete

Jul 13 , 2019
By TEMESGEN MULUGETA ( FORTUNE STAFF WRITER )

Habesha Construction & Materials Development SC built 50 housing and two commercial units around Ayat at a cost of 61 million Br.

After four years of delay, Habesha Construction & Materials Development SC has delivered 50 housing and two commercial units.

Habesha, a local real estate firm and construction material supplier, has been constructing the houses for the past six years at its site in the Ayat area. Built for 61 million Br, the eight-storey building with housing and business units were delivered to the buyers on July 13, 2019.

The apartments host three-bedroom units along with a parking area, elevators and an electric power generator. The units rest on an area that ranges between 92Sqm to 126Sqm. The building also has two basements. Out of the 1,077Sqm covered by the site, the apartment occupies nearly 823Sqm of it.



The initial plan of delivering the houses was in two years, but it took over six years to finalise the houses and deliver them to the home buyers.


Shortage of foreign currency to import raw material and the price escalation of construction materials are the two reasons cited by the company for the delay, according to Teferri Zewdie, general manager of Habesha.

"We couldn't even import elevators on time due to a shortage of foreign currency," Teferri said.




Yerer Construction Plc,  a local construction firm, completed the civil work of the project under the supervision of Habesha Construction.

The site is among 12 projects the company has undertaken in the city. On these sites, Habesha is constructing 1,160 homes, 394 offices and business units and 28 villas.


Last year, the company delivered 80 housing units built at Sunset Project for the first time since its establishment nine years ago. With 2,014 shareholders, the company planned to deliver two residential apartments and one business centre in the coming Ethiopian year.

ECA Apartments and Fame Villas, two residential projects, and Tigat Business Centre are the projects that are expected to be delivered to buyers in the planned time frame.

In 2018, Habesha Construction, which earned 13 million Br in net profits in 2018, sold 792 apartments, 352 offices and shops and 27 villas valued at 1.8 billion Br. In the same period, the company earned 44.9 million Br in gross income generated from the sale of apartments, investment from shares and the sale of cement.

Aziza Abdulfetah, lecturer and chairperson of landscape architecture at the Ethiopian Institute of Architecture, Building Construction & City Development, says that failure in delivering houses in the allotted time is the problem of most real estate firms in the country.


Price variation and exaggerated advertisement to attract home buyers is the prevailing trend in the industry, according to Aziza.

"To meet the demand for housing, the real estate companies, government and policymakers should work together and come up with new project designs," she added.


PUBLISHED ON Jul 13,2019 [ VOL 20 , NO 1002]

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