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The Addis Abeba Lease Board, chaired by Mayor Kuma
Demeksa, blamed city administrations since Ali
Abdo's mayoralty for the 12-year delay of the
construction of Mohammed Ali Al-Amoudi's Huda Real
Estate Towers, and gave the company the green ligth
to keep the land and proceed with construction.
This had become an issue when Huda contacted the
Infrastructure and Construction Permit Authority,
about four months ago, with a different design and
asked for a construction permit. City law requires
that investors begin construction within 18 months
of leasing land or risk losing the land to the
administration. The office which received Huda's
request had been restructured and renamed the Land
Development and Building Permit Authority, which
referred Huda's request to the lease board.
The board looked at the case for two weeks and
decided that the administration had to claim
responsibility for Huda's 12-year delay to begin
construction. It decided that the authority must to
examine Huda's request under normal procedures and
grant its construction permit for the 36,000ht it
has had all these years.
When the company leased the land in 1998, it said
that it would erect twin towers buildings 42 and 39
storeys high, which would be used for multiple
purposes including apartments, retail centres,
cinemas and parking for 500 vehicles. The indicated
budget at the time was 400 million Br.
An executive of the MIDROC Group told Fortune
that the construction was delayed by various
underground utility lines and because of the fear
that the foundation work would destabilise the City
Administration's buildings nearby.
"The land belongs to the company. Our experts are
now looking at the design," said Mekonnen Kechera,
land grant process leader at the Land Development
and Construction Permit Authority.
The two towers are now shorter than in the first
design. Huda could get the construction permit over
the next few months, according to Mekonnen, who
added that the company would then be expected to
begin construction within the specified period. |
