Tanzania: NHC Chief Salutes Ethiopian Firm

ETHIOPIAN construction company, Flintstone Engineering, which won an over 5.9bn/- tender to construct residential apartments at Shangani in Mtwara Region earlier this year, is doing a good job on the ground.

National Housing Corporation (NHC) Director General, Mr Nehemia Mchechu, said the company won an international competitive tender and is so far progressing well with construction work which is due to be completed in 36 months time.

"They won an international tender after meeting the set benchmarks and are so far progressing well with construction work at the site," Mr Mchechu said.

The Ethiopian firm is a product of a German GIZ and government of Ethiopia programme to build capacity of local construction firms in the country.

Flintstone founder and Chief Executive Officer, Mr Moges Tadese, said that currently, his company is pursuing two projects in the country.

"In Tanzania we have only one project which we are doing alone and a second one with almost equivalent size which is a joint venture with a local company," Mr Tadese said.

According to Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) website, Flintstone is also undertaking NHC residential apartments construction project jointly with Pioneer Builders Limited as joint venture at Mwongozo in Dar es Salaam.

Mr Tadese said his company will work with local firms to help improve their capacity to compete with Chinese and Indian firms, which are currently dominating the construction industry in general. The Flintstone CEO said unlike in Tanzania, in Ethiopia foreign contractors are dominant in major road projects.

"In our country the foreign companies are highly involved in the road construction. We have very limited or none foreign contractors in building contracts," he noted.

GIZ International Services Ethiopia, a dozen or so Ethiopian contractors have graduated from the University Capacity Building Programme moving from grade 3 to grade 1 contractor status. Flintstone is also undertaking an African Union headquarters building project in Addis Ababa valued at Euro 42m which is a grant from Germany.

The GIZ IS programme has also assisted in reducing corruption in the construction industry. According to a World Bank report published in 2013 under the title "Diagnosing Corruption In Ethiopia, GIZ IS" programme has successfully deployed an anti-corruption system in the UCBP and commended the approach to other similar projects in the country and elsewhere.

Other Ethiopia construction firms which also graduated from the UCBP - namely Alemeyehu Ketema and Tekleberhan Ambaye - are undertaking projects in Rwanda and Somaliland
.

Source: AllAfrica