Ethiopia is ready to let foreign companies engaged in the construction sector take part in the housing development program, an official said.
Tender has already issued for the construction of the housing project, particularly, the 40/60 housing program, Mekuria Haile Minister of Urban Development and Housing Construction told ENA.
Projects will be awarded to the companies in accordance with their proposals, past performance as well as current implementing capacity, Mekuria said.
“The selection of the companies will be based on technical proposal, financial capacity, logistics and capacity and implementation capacity of the companies” he said.
The government has evaluated the construction of condominium houses and identified that “knowledge, skill and input utilization” are the major gaps, according to Mekuria.
Inviting foreign companies has become important because of limitations in local enterprises to finish construction within the deadline, said the Minister.
Speed is important to meet the ever-increasing demand for housing, he added, the government cannot achieve the goal to transfer more houses to the public with the current performance of the local enterprises.
Because of this, it is necessary to involve some foreign companies in the program so as to complete construction of condominium houses on time and transfer knowledge to the local enterprises.
The decision to involve foreign companies in the sector is aimed at building houses quickly and help local enterprises build their capacity in terms of skill and equipment, he said.
The government is committed to help enterprises improve their capacity and make them competitive in the sector and will continue to provide assistance to them, he said.
The companies that will win the contracts are going to take part in the housing development projects to be started the coming Ethiopian new year.
The government expected that local enterprises would develop their capacity by sharing the technologies, techniques and knowledge the foreign companies will bring with them, Mekuria said.
Domestic micro enterprises should work closely with foreign companies to build up their capacity.
Involvement of foreign companies in the housing program is important to adopt new technologies, build capacity of local enterprises, and gets modern design and building machineries, said Dr Webishet Jekale who is Assistant Professor and senior expert in construction sector in Addis Ababa University.
The government should consider some things to protect local companies and improve standards of the houses, he added.
Regulatory organ should be formed by the government to monitor the construction process, he suggested.
[EthiopianNewsAgency]