Addis Ababa, EN, 13 Feb, 2023:- Ethiopia Terminates Chinese Contractor from mega project
The Chinese contractor, who is building the Adey Ababa National Stadium in Addis Ababa, was unable to reach an agreement on the price adjustment request.
The termination agreement was reached between the Ministry of Culture, Sport and Tourism, which owns and builds the national stadium, and the contractor, China Construction and Design Corporation.
“We agreed to pay 12.5 billion birr by making a 225 percent payment adjustment on the previous contract by negotiating on the price adjustment request presented by the company,” said the Minister of Culture and Sports Mr Kejela Megersa in his explanation to the Standing Committee on Culture and Social Affairs of the House of Representatives last week. .
However, after an agreement was reached on this price, the contractor raised other questions and asked to be paid 17 billion birr, the minister added.
“The additional payment request submitted by the contractor is unacceptable. We have found the contractor to be a company lacking integrity that makes various attempts to cheat after accepting the negotiated agreement,” the minister added.
He explained to the Standing Committee that he explained the details of the matter and the position reached by the ministry to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed as well.
According to the contract, the contractor entered into a contract to complete the construction in 900 days, and according to this, he should have completed the construction in September 2022, but he explained that it was not possible to perform according to the contract due to problems that were beyond his contrat in the interim period.
One of the problems encountered was the outbreak of the Covid epidemic, and another was the government’s failure to pay the advance payment to the contractor in foreign currency on time due to the shortage of foreign currency.
The contractor demanded a price adjustment due to the fact that the advance payment that should have been paid in foreign currency was not paid on time, and the price of the construction materials that the company imported in advance increased to a high price.
