The Financial District in the capital welcomes the construction of one more headquarters building - this time for Oromia Insurance Company.

To rest on 3,004Sqm of land, the 35-storey building will cost the company 1.5 billion Br and is expected to be completed in four years.

Having four basements, the building will be located between the premises of the Ethiopian Coffee, Tea Marketing & Development Authority and the Federal Small & Medium Manufacturing Industry Development Agency across from Wabi Shebelle Hotel.

Anchor Foundation Specialist Plc, a local firm specialised in foundation construction and known for building the United and Nib bank HQs, Marriot International and the Addis Abeba Light Railway Transit Qality Terminal, is working on the foundation work.

The company started the digging and shoring process on November 16, 2019, according to Legesse Dabesa, project manager at Oromia Insurance.

Zeleke Belay Architect Plc, another local firm in the business for over two decades that has undertaken projects including universities, hospitals and corporate office buildings in the past, won the bid two years ago to design the building and supervise the contractors.

For the construction of the structural works, Oromia Insurance has already floated a tender, which will close at the end of this month.

Planned as a multi-purpose building, it will join the already built and under construction headquarters of the banks as well as Nib Insurance, Ethiopian Insurance Corporation and United Insurance.

The construction of the building was initiated in partnership between the insurance firm and Oromia Coffee Farmers’ Cooperative Union, which is a member of the board of directors of Oromia Insurance and Oromia International Bank.

The Union, which was established in 1999 by 34 cooperatives with 22,000 members but has now grown to 405 cooperatives with a paid capital of 20 million dollars, initially planned to contribute 750 million Br to the construction of the building. However, the Union withdrew its plan.

“It wasn’t due to a conflict,’’ said Oumer Wabe, general manager of the Union. ‘‘We've decided to part ways due to the vitality of the business.’’

The new management of the Union, which has been at the helm since 2015, came to a consensus that the investment was not reasonable for the Union in terms of profitability, according to him.