Ethiopian Airlines (ET) is reportedly in fresh talks with unnamed international companies regarding the design, construction, vendor finance and management of a proposed four-star (previously 5 star) hotel it wants to build on 40'000sqm of prime real estate in downtown Addis Ababa on the newly revamped African Avenue.
The project, which has been delayed numerous times in the past owing to "poor design tenders" - most recently in 2012 - could be signed and done in 15 days, should the parties arrive at a deal.
“Ethiopian could settle on a company within 15 days, if all requested documents are submitted by the bidding companies,” an official from the facility planning section, under the Alliances & Corporate Strategic Planning Department, told Fortune. “We have been given the direction to expedite the process as soon as possible.”
Source [AddisFortune]
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| An old rendering for the proposed hotel (AddisFortune) |
Around 10 companies from China, South Africa and the United States were selectively invited to submit proposals in December 2012, with bid offers being opened on February 28, 2013. Ethiopian will evaluate the current batch of offers using three criteria which will hinge on the offer for the design, a firm loan offer from banks and
a hotel management company as a partner, for which costs will necessarily be included
within the offer.
A previous joint venture agreement valued at USD60million, in which Ethiopian would have held a 53% shareholding, and signed with the China-Africa Development (CAD) Fund and HNA Hotels & Resorts Group (HNA Group), collapsed as interested parties "did not respond to the offer in a timeous manner."
Ethiopian has had a chequered past regarding its selection of potential architects and contractors, the most recent being in 2009 when Ethiopian
issued a tender to indigenous Ethiopian companies for the design and
supervision of contract for it's new headquarters at Bole Airport. However,
the airline was not satisfied with the submissions and only second to
fifth place of the design bid were announced on Monday, April 11, 2010,
with no actual winner being declared.
A second round tender was announced in September 2011. In February 2012 Ethiopian Airlines finally made its decision settling instead
for a design by Ethiopian architectural firm BET Architects Plc, in
collaboration with Soehene Partners Architects, an Austrian company.
