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22 May, 2007
Addis Park Development and Management Plc (APDM), a subsidiary company of MIDROC Ethiopia, has launched construction of a massive concert hall, beginning to bulldoze a 90,000sqm plot located on Africa Avenue (Bole Road), in front of London Café. When completed at the end of July 2007, according to schedule, the venue will consume an investment of 10 million dollars and host a musical extravaganza in connection with the Ethiopian Millennium, according to Abnet G. Meskel, coordinator of the project and close confident of Sheikh Mohammed Ali Al-Amoudi.
It will be a modern concert hall that is designed to accommodate 20,000 spectators, and comprises mobile toilets to be imported from Italy, Abnet told Fortune. The design was developed by a Dubai based architectural firm, PAG.
The civil works on the project were begun two weeks ago by Varnero Construction, while the steel structure will be erected by Canam, a Canadian company based in Dubai, with 40 years track record in the industry.
The construction of the concert hall is part of the Millennium musical events which are planned to feature prominent hip-hop performers and pop artists from the United States (US), as well as renowned local singers. Abnet disclosed to Fortune, MIDROC has begun negotiations with acclaimed performers such as Janet Jackson and 50 Cents, hoping that they will entertain their fans in Ethiopia during the Millennium celebration.
The concert hall, when completed on July 31, will comprise two sections: an elevated space designed to accommodate 5,000 people, as well as a ground section with a capacity to take the remaining 15,000.
However, this seemingly expensive concert hall will have a lifetime of only six months, disclosed Abnet. The company plans to go back to its original plans for which it leased the plot for 99 years. An official at the Bole District office told Fortune that the company was granted the plot in order to build a hotel that will incorporate a convention centre.
Nothing has happened on the plot since the lease agreement was signed two years ago that might have led District officials to grant the plot to another company. MA Promotion Plc had rented the plot on a temporary basis in order to set up a 1.76 million Br “Ethiopian Millennium Shopping Festive”.
After discovering that the plot has already been leased to APDM, Bole District officials made another arrangement allowing MA Promotion to rent a plot located inside the Ethiopian Civil Aviation Authority, on South Africa Street, in front of the Bole Medhanialem Cathedral.
“The move has subjected us to a loss of 700,000 Br,” Mohammed Abdulkadir, general manager of MA Promotions, told Fortune.
Both projects are part of countless numbers of plans underway in connection to celebrate the upcoming Ethiopian second Millennium. A national secretariat has been established by the decree of the Council of Ministers, responsible to organise these events in the capital and all regional towns. It requires a budget of 200 million Br, while its counterpart in the Addis Abeba City Administration has budgeted 150 million Br.
By WUDINEH ZENEBE - FORTUNE STAFF WRITER