The Addis Ababa Savings & Houses Development Enterprise (AASHDE) is procuring 338 elevators for the middle-class condominium houses that are under construction. This purchase is attempted by the Enterprise for the second time after it was cancelled a year ago.

The Enterprise invited interested companies for the supply and installation of passenger lifts through an advertisement published in the English daily state newspaper The Ethiopian Herald, on June 20, 2017. The tender was re-floated under five lots, for condos that have seven to 18 storeys with and without basements. This procurement may cost the Enterprise up to an estimated 400 million Br.

The Addis Ababa University Department of Construction Technology & Management prepared the bidding document of the tender.

The Enterprise wants to procure 20 lifts for seven and twelve-storey buildings, 74 for 10 and 13-storey condos, 68 for eight and 13-storeys buildings with and without basements, 88 lifts for eight and 10-storey buildings and 88 more for eight, 10, 13, and 18-storey buildings.

The initial tender was announced in March 2015 with a deadline for submitting bidding documents of a month’s interval from the announcement. But, the Enterprise cancelled the tender mentioning none of the bidding companies was technically qualified. It opened the technical proposals of three businesses that were selected for technical evaluation.

Dan Lift Technologies Plc and Syntec Ethiopia Plc are among the companies up for technical evaluation. But the Enterprise informed the three suppliers that all of them had failed the technical assessment. And they were told to grab their bidding documents, according to a source close to the case.

Recently, the Enterprise handed over 876 housing units to the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE), which is entitled to deliver the houses to the registered homebuyers. These homes are located in 17 buildings found at Senga Tera and Crown sites.

Out of the total buildings, 12 of them are nine-storey buildings and located at Crown site while the remaining 12-storey buildings are located at Senga Tera site. All of the 17 buildings have elevators, according to Yohannes Abayneh, head of communications affairs at the Enterprise.

Out of the 876 units handed over, 320 of them are for commercial purposes.

Since 2013, the Enterprise has been constructing houses in three phases. The condos have eight to 18 storeys. The number of buildings is 371 having 39,229 units, located at 13 sites across the city.

For these houses, a total of 168,000 people registered to get the houses. Forty percent of the cost of the homes is covered by the homebuyers while the government covers the balance in a loan arrangement. The homebuyers will pay the mortgage in five years by saving a deposit every month at CBE.

One, two and three bedroom houses under the middle-class scheme cost 162,000 Br, 250,000 Br and 386,000 Br, respectively. The respective monthly savings for these units are 1,033 Br, 1,575 Br and 2,453 Br for five years.

But following the price escalation of construction input materials, the Addis Ababa City Administration decided to revise the cost of the houses. Following this, the Enterprise made a cost assessment and submitted the findings and recommendations to CBE.

“CBE will announce the adjusted prices,” Yohannes told Fortune.

Recently, the Public Procurement & Property Disposal Service (PPPDS) cancelled the award it gave to Xizi Unite Elevator Co. Ltd for the supply of 302 elevators for lower-class condominiums that are under construction.

For the lower-class housing schemes, the Addis Ababa Construction & Housing Development Bureau is undertaking the construction of 130,000 houses across 15 sites.

The bids for the 338 elevators will be opened on August 14, 2017, at the premises of the Enterprise located in Arat Kilo on Queen Elizabeth Street.

Source : AddisFortune