Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Varnero to construct National Insurance Company of Ethiopia headquarters


By Binyam Tamene   
Tuesday, 04 January 2011 00:00
Varnero Construction Plc has beaten major construction companies in the country to build a 12-floor-long headquarters of the National Insurance Company of Ethiopia (NICE) in the heart of Addis Ababa.
Construction companies including Midroc, Teklebrhan Ambaye, DMC, Akir were competing to construct the headquarters, which will be built adjacent to Tewodros Square on Churchill Road.
Nevertheless, NICE has given the go ahead to Varnero Construction last week to construct its headquarters which is expected to commence within one-and-half months and be completed in two years.
NICE claims they have already secured the land from the Addis Ababa Administration over ten years ago. The company dismisses the report that it is constructing the building following the AA Administration’s warning for anyone with land in their possession for too long to construct soon or else give it back.
The reason for the delay is mainly due to a court wrangle with the previous administration that claims the land belongs to Local Development Plan, not for other purposes.
“We are now given the license to construct, with the current city management giving us the green light,” said Tewodros Bogale, Deputy Manager of NICE.
“With the design of the building already completed, we expected the company to start construction in the next one or two months,” said Tewodros.
The design of the building includes three basement floors, a ground floor on the top with twelve floors for office and commercial activities. Out of the total 17,130 square meter of  floor area, 15,407 square meters will be available for rent.
The construction could cost NICE an estimated 141 million birr with the first phase of erecting a construction structure expected to cost 80 million birr. But, the general manager said the finishing cost could rise up to 60 million, “which will take the total to more than 141 million”.
The company said it’s now negotiating  to put various financial institutions for financial arrangements to cover the cost but refused to mention the type of arrangement they are dealing with.
However, the insurance company also said, though the building venture has proven to be a lucrative business, the cost of initial investment could accommodate more shareholders, which should encourage other investors to join the company by buying shares.

http://nazret.com/blog/index.php/2011/01/04/varnero-to-construct-national-insurance-company-of-ethiopia-headquarters

1 comment:

Engendo said...

figures youd be reading about their insurance companies LOL