Bank of Abyssinia to build a $400-million office tower

Addis Ababa – Bank of Abyssinia, one of the leading private banks in the country, is planning to build a new $400-million headquarters in the Mexico neighborhood of the capital known as the financial district, according to the Ethiopian Reporter.

The multi million dollar project, which will be constructed on 9, 763 sq. meters of land leased from the Addis Ababa City Administration, is awarded to China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC).

CSCEC was given the award after vying with another Chinese-owned company, China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC), and is expected to begin construction works in the next four months. The project will take five years, according to president Bekalu Zeleke , who believes the addition of the new building will spur economic growth.

“It will be one of the tallest buildings in Ethiopia,” said Bekalu, who was the president of the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) when the state giant awarded the same construction company to construct its 46-storey skyscraper next to Ethiopia Hotel.