The road was severely damaged and was source of disappointment for the residents
The Addis Abeba City Road Authority (AACRA) awarded the road project of the long serving eight kilometre long road at Bole Bulbula after 14 years of repeated requests from residents of the area.
AACRA awarded two companies to construct the road with 750 million Br dividing it into two lots.
The agreement between the Authority and the companies’ representative signed last Tuesday between Habtamu Tegegn (Eng), director general of AACRA, Limenew Feleke, CEO of FAL Trading General Contractor, and Firew Tedla, managing director, Rama Construction PlC.
The first lot, which is awarded to FAL General Contractor, covers 3.8Km extending from Bole Bulbula quarry entrance through Bole Bulbula Wereda 12 intersection to Bulbula middle-class condominium housing, costing the Authority 100 million Br a kilometre.
The road will have a 10cm thickness, having bridges and concrete structures. The land structure is very unsteady demanding an extensive excavation work, according to Assefa Beyene, explaining the reason behind the expensiveness of the project compared to the other lot.
FAL, a grade one contractor, has agreed to construct the 30 metre wide road in two years. Founded in 2001, the Company has no experience in constructing roads in the capital except building asphalt roads in the vicinity of condominium housings. Earlier this year, the company won a 3.8Km gravel road construction in Afar Region with a cost of 27 million Br.
The second lot, covering 4.1Km length, have around 25 metres width including the side walk corridor starting from Bole Bulbula Wereda 12 intersection through Bulbula middle-class condominium housing to Nova real estate.
It is awarded to Rama Construction with a cost of 91.3 million Br per kilometre and is expected to complete within two years including the time taken by the relocation process, which has already started after the approval of the final design.
Rama Construction PlC, a grade one contractor, was established in 1995. The Company has accomplished different construction works including the 872 million Br road construction project extending from Azezo-Gonder.
Previously, the roads in both lots were severely damaged and were very narrow to accommodate the population in the area, which has been growing following the construction of middle and lower class houses, becoming a bottleneck for traffic movement.
“The topography of the place deterred us from performing our daily routine,” said one of the residents who live around Bole Bulbula. “I have continuously come to the authority to report about the condition of the road. People are in the state of blaming themselves for their choice of living in that neighbourhood.”
The completion of the new road will alleviate the problem related to congestion and increase the coverage of road infrastructure of the city, according to Habtamu, director general of AACRA.
The cost of the construction is fully funded by the Addis Abeba City Administration Council, which allocated 6.3 billion Br to the current fiscal year. The construction is expected to begin next month.
A committee that comprises of Ethio Telecom, Addis Abeba Water & Sewerage Authority (AAWSA), Ethiopian Electric Utility (EEU) and the respective Wereda land management offices was formed to facilitate the relocation process in each lot.
The Authority is yet to hire consultants for both of the projects. Also, it is currently undertaking the bidding process of nine road projects, where the construction will be started shortly, according to Tieumay Woldegebriel, director of Communication at the Authority.
Up until last year, the city’s road network has increased to 5,915Km from 5,365Km the previous year whereas the city’s road coverage has increased from 20pc to 22pc.