We floated a tender for the construction of the Hawassa and Robe Airports: The Ethiopian Airports Enterprise

Wondeme Teklu, head of the communication affairs office at the Enterprise.

Source addisfortune.net

Jinka Airport Given Green Light With Construction Contract

The Ethiopian Airports Enterprise is also looking to construct new airports in Hawassa and Robe

The Ethiopian Airports Enterprise (EAE) has awarded a 571.7 million Br contract to Afro-Tsion Construction Plc for the construction of the country’s 18th airport at Jinka, 587kms south of Addis Abeba.

The Enterprise contracted the project to Afro-Tsion on May 27, 2014, and the contractor was handed over the land, located three kilometres away from Jinka town, on Thursday June 5, 2014.

Afro Tsion, a grade one general contractor, was established in 1990 and is engaged in road and bridge construction, infrastructure and real estate development and water works. The contractor has previously worked on the construction of numerous projects, such as Mekele University, Oromia Regional Offices, Gondar University, Assela Malt Factory, Jimma University, Awash International Bank Project (Adama Branch Office Building), water works at Gewanie and Awash Arba water supply projects.

The Transport Construction Design Enterprise (TCDE) – a fully fledged state owned consulting firm, which  deals mainly in the design and construction supervision of roads, bridges and airports – is the consultant for the construction of the Airport. The TCDE was established in August 1987. Before this, the TCDE had been a division under the Ethiopian Roads Authority (ERA) for about 30 years, serving as a consultant.

“The construction will only include the landing part of airport, which will be finalised within two and half years,” said Wondeme Teklu, head of the communication affairs office at the Enterprise. “The passenger terminal is under design and will be ready for construction next year.”

According to Wondeme, the airport will lie on a three million square metre plot of land and the landing area will be 2.5kms in length and 60ms in width. It  is designed to serve the Boeing 737 model of aeroplane.

Currently, the Enterprise administers 17 airports all over the country; three of these are gravelled airports – Semera, Pawe and Robe Goba. Among the total airports, four of them are international – Addis Abeba Bole, Dire Dawa, Bahir Dar and Mekelle Alula Aba Nega.

The Enterprise selected Jinka for the construction of the airport for two reasons, according to Wondeme: the economic growth of the city and high tourist flow towards Jinka.

According to the Growth & Transformation Plan (GTP), the Enterprise planned to have a total of 21 airports before the end of 2014/15 fiscal year.

“We floated a tender for the construction of the Hawassa and Robe Airports as well,” said Wondem. “As for the construction of the Hawassa, Robe, Semera and Jinka passenger terminals, we will auction tenders soon.”

According to Wondeme, the construction of the passenger terminal of Jinka, which will be built next year, will have the capacity to accommodate 178 passengers at a time.

The Ethiopian Airports Enterprise (EAE) was formally established as a public enterprise in January 2003, by the Council of Ministers (CoM), with a capital of two billion Br.

Before the Enterprise’s establishment, the former Civil Aviation Authority was responsible for administering the economic and technical regulations, airport services and aviation security. But later, the government decided to handle the three responsibilities separately by forming the Ethiopian Civil Aviation Authority and the EAE. Airport security has continued with the National Security & Intelligence Affairs.

The Enterprise provides two services: aeronautical (runway, taxiway and flood lights) and non-aeronautical (restaurant, hotels, banking and shopping) to generate revenue. Currently, the Enterprise generates a net profit of 900,000 Br annually and shows an average annual increase of 10pc.