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Houses numbering 3,400 built for Tendaho Sugar Factory workers are to be inaugurated and handed over to the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MoTI) on Tuesday, February 9, 2010
The houses were built in the Afar Regional State in a 70km range from Dubti to Asaita by the Tendaho Houses Project under the Ministry of Works and Urban Development (MoWUD).
The houses were to be handed over by Arkebe Okubay, state minister for MoWUD to Girma Birru, minister of MoTI on Saturday, February 6. However, the ceremony for the project, falling under Arkebe’s supervision, was postponed due to high level ministerial meetings both officials were obliged to attend.
The buildings included two, three and four storey buildings, as well as schools, health centres, hospitals and recreation centres. The next phase will involve the construction of an additional 6,000 houses.
"We have completed the more difficult part of the work," said Mewucha Gebremedhin, head of the Project Support Office at MoWUD. "The remaining portion of the work will not be as difficult."
In the first phase of the construction, the high temperature, poor work culture in the area, absence of facilities for the workers, and the land clearing that was involved had been major problems, according to Mewucha.
The construction of the dam and the preparation of the land for the sugar plantation, both undertaken by the Ministry of Water Resources, were also proceeding according to plan, the official said.
The factory, which the government had hoped would begin operation by 2010/11, is yet to be constructed, as the Indian companies involved in the construction project - Overseas Investment Agency (OIA) and Uttam - are locked in a legal battle in India. The contract was awarded to OIA, which was going to bring on Uttam Sucrotech International Plc as a subcontractor.
Uttam, however, is contesting the manner in which the project was awarded to OIA in a court in India.
On January 25, 2010, Sufian Ahmed, minister of Finance and Economic Development, passed a stern message to representatives of the two companies to either resolve the issues between them or lose the project to other contractors.
The houses that have been constructed and those that are yet to be constructed will not be occupied until the factory has been constructed and readied for use.