The Ministry of Culture and Sports has stated that, a budget has been reserved to restart the construction of the Adey Ababa National Stadium, which has been suspended for a long time, in the new fiscal year.
As the Minister of Culture and Sports, Mr. Kejela Merdasa, told the Ethiopian Press, the national stadium, which will be built on 48 hectares of land and has a capacity of 62,000 spectators, has been budgeted for in 2016 fisical year.
The construction of the national stadium was carried out by the Chinese company (CCCC) has been suspended due to covid-19.
Later, the price adjustment offered by the contractor for the work was higher than the market and could not be matched with the government’s budget.
As a result, the contract with the construction contractor was terminated, the minister said.
The minister stated that, due to the fact that the contractor had postponed the work due to the Covid-19, efforts were being made to continue the construction. He recalled that the contractor had been repeatedly warned about the issue.
Finally, the government declined the contractor’s request for an unreasonable and above-market price adjustment for the work.
The minister explained that, the contract with the contractor was terminated in March 2023.
The minister stated that, the construction of the first phase of the stadium has been done well, and the comments of foreign experts who visited the construction show that the work has been done according to international standards.
He pointed out that, the stadium is a big project and completed within two years if there is no budget deficit problem.
It has not been announced how much budget has been allocated to continue the construction of the second phase of the stadium.
The construction of the first phase of the stadium started in December 2016 with a budget of 2.47 billion birr, and the second phase construction started in March 2020 with a budget of 5.57 billion birr and was planned to be completed in 900 days.
