The Africa Avenue, Addis Abeba’s main thoroughfare, a.k.a Bole Road, will soon go through a major facelift; city officials want drivers to hit the road uninterrupted by traffic when driving on the 4.3Km road from Meskel Square to Bole International Airport.

City officials signed on Monday, July 7, 2008, a 361.7 million Br worth project with a private firm, Eney Construction. It is a local construction company that outbid the CRBC Addis Engineering Plc by close to 57 million Br, although industry sources allege that Eney offered the city a 25pc discount from its original offer.

Africa Avenue is one of the busiest roads in the city.

“It is a highly congested road,” Fekade said. “We’re convinced that the construction firm has sufficient logistical capacity and human resources.”

Eney is not new to intercity road construction, however. Visible in the industry in the past two years, it has been undertaking road construction projects in the capital: from Yerer Ber through Anbessa Garage and Lem Hotel to Shola Geybeya; and from Dama Hotel through Hanna Mariam Church to the Ring Road.

“We’re determined to complete this road with a good performance,” Endale told Fortune. “This project represents for us a stepping stone to bid for international contracts.”

The facelift on Africa Avenue is part of the administration’s plan to upgrade the city’s tarmac road coverage from 9.4pc to 10.6pc. Mayor Kuma Demeksa’s administration would like to see 89.7Km new asphalt roads built, maintained and expanded in the coming fiscal year. The city council has approved a 1.6 billion Br budget to finance the city’s road construction projects, less by 1.3 billion Br 400 million Br the Authority had requested for the fiscal year 2008-09.

AACRA was awarded an additional five projects on Monday, with a total length of 31.66Km; all the projects were handed out to local construction firms.

“We have brought the local firms into our system,” Fekade told Fortune. “I’m proud to see them take over such big size projects.”

Eney, for instance, has bagged an additional contract from the city administration, to build the 3.5Km road stretching from Alem Bank to Yeshi Deble: bidding against CRBC and Hazi Construction. Eney is to be paid 155.5 million Br to complete the construction in 14 months; this road will be expanded by 30m.

A 5.2Km road from Ayer Tenna to Tatek (Ambo Road) was awarded to Hazi Construction for 306 million Br, outbidding both CRBC and Eney. This will be yet another contract for Hazi, which has recently won a 203.7 million Br project from the city, to build a five-kilometre road that runs from Meskel Flower Hotel via Ethio-China Street, all the way to Africa Avenue and up to the junction commonly known as Bole Rwanda.

MIDROC Construction was the firm with the largest number of projects awarded, including the 2.7Km road from Mekanissa to Beserate Gabriel. It has won the project for 170.3 million Br, after bidding against five firms. The remaining eight-kilometre road from Megenagna to Ayat Real Estate was given to MIDROC, after beating CRBC, which had offered 209.03 million Br. MIDROC is committed to finalizing the project in 14 months.

The eight-kilometre road from Gurd-Shola to Kobelle, via Sammit Factory, was also awarded to MIDROC for offering 270.4 million Br and agreeing to complete it in 14 months. CRBC and Eney Construction were the bidders against MIDROC.

By WUDINEH ZENEBE
SPECIAL TO FORTUNE