Addis Ababa/ Grand Ghion 5 and 4 star hotel/ Expansion proposed
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The Privatization and Public Enterprises Supervising Agency (PPESA) reached a decision for a joint ownership of the 59-year old Ghion Hotel yesterday with an Ethiopian investor, Aklileberhan Mekonnen Haileselassie. The bid process, which took about two years to complete, attracted investors from Abu Dhabi, Egypt, Kuwait, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Israel and Germany. The Agency finally decided on a joint partnership with Aklileberhan. The takeover includes the construction of two new four-and five-star hotels on the premises of the current Ghion Hotel worth USD 510 million.

Aklileberhan will have an 80 percent stake while the remaining 20 percent (USD 100 million) will remain with the Agency. The construction of the hotel is expected to be finalized in three years and four months period. The new establishment, which will be named Grand Ghion Hotel, will feature one new four-star hotel on the site where the current swimming pool is found and will be completed within a period of a year and four months. Another five-star hotel will be constructed after the current Ghion Hotel building is demolished.

“We won the bid because of the design we presented, the amount of money we offered and our great strategy of not to fire the existing workers of the hotel,” Aklileberhan said. “Instead of firing the workers, we believe that it will be better to train them and build their capacity.”

The new design will include a helipad and presidential suites. According to Aklileberhan, they have negotiated with Intercontinental Hotels and Resorts to take over the management of the upcoming Grand Ghion Hotel. Next week the new Grand Ghion Hotel will be established and the board will commence its duties.
“In terms of design and size, the hotel will be one-of-a-kind and the best in Africa; its presidential suites can accommodate leaders of Africa for African Union summit,” the representative of the investor and chairperson of the board, Costantinos Berhe (PhD), said.

As per the request of the Agency, the investor’s financial background and capacity was attached and sent to the Agency and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, for verification.

“My deepest desire is to support my country with the expansion of the hotel industry and other activities,” Aklileberhan said. He is also planning to build hotels in Lalibela in the Amhara Regional State and Axum in the Tigray Regional State. Building a hospital in Jimma in the Oromia Regional State is also one of the investor’s plans. Moreover, he is also planning to contribute USD 20 million for the establishment of Axum’s museum through the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and finance the construction of a new secondary school on the premises of St Trinity‘s Church.
Aklileberhan, along with his wife and children, owns twelve investment companies, two in Germany and eight in the UK. His headquarters are found in Switzerland.

Ghion Hotels Enterprise was established by the government in 1951 and used to operate a chain of 11 hotels, which were all found in north Ethiopia, except National Hotel, which was sold to the Ethiopian Athletics Federation a few months ago. Roha Hotel, one of the hotels administered by Ghion Hotel, was transferred to Ayat Real Estate S.C. after the latter won a bid. Despite operating old hotels with rundown facilities in many of its properties, including the one in Addis, the enterprise registered an after tax profit of 10.6 million birr in 2004. The hotel is well known for its tastefully furnished rooms, enchanting gardens with their exotic plants and flowers, and thermally heated bathing and swimming pools.

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The African Union Conference Center Bldg. in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia is taking shape and due to open Dec 2011; The future AU conference centre includes a 23-storey building that
can accommodate more than 500 offices, a 2,000-seat auditorium, a
500-seat conference room and offices for the AU Commission staff.

A five star hotel will also be built, nearby the conference centre,
to accommodate the heads of state and government and other guests for
the yearly meetings.

Here's another project on the same site.
Peace and Security Building - 25 million Euros

Interior.

Impressive rose gardens

Grand Ghion hotel

Click on image after opening the URL for larger size image.

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e68/Simfan34/PRES_FUNCTIONS.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e68/Simfan34/PRES_SWIMMINGPOOLPERS.jpg
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e68/Simfan34/PRES_AERIAL5.jpg

It is nice to see the royal family from Haile Selassie era involved in investing in Ethiopia.


Ghion 512 mln dollar deal closed
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Quote:
The privatization and public Enterprises Supervising authority (PPESA) has agreed to transfer Ghion Hotel located in the prime corner of Addis Ababa, bordering the national palace, to Aklile Berhan Mekonen Hailsellase, dubbed prince, i.e. one of the sons of prince Mekonnen. The acclaimed descendants of emperor Haile Selassie has been trying to obtain the hotel for many years and says he will upgrade it to “one of the best in Africa”.

Prince Aklile Berhane Mekonnen enterd a deal with PPEPSA to renovate one of the oldest hotels in Ethiopia with an investment of 512 million dollar to upgrade it to a five star hotel. The investor will own 80 Percent of the shares, while the rest will be government owned.

The prince bought the Hotel under his German-based company, Dinkenesh, named after his wife.

The prince is involved in various businesses, mainly focusing on financial and stock markets all over Europe. He says he was one of the last sons of Prince Mekonnen Haile Sillasie, who was one of the favorite sons of Emperor Haile Selassiee. He further said that it was his wish to buy his family’s property.
In an exclusive interview with Capital, Prince Aklile aid that the new Grand Ghion Hotel will be franchised by either Intercontinental Hotels or Hilton Hotels who both are interested.

Aklile is confident about the new Ghion’s future. He says he used to own the Florence Sheraton Hotel and two other hotels in the Italian capital Rome. And hence he doesn’t expect running the hotel in Addis Ababa to be difficult for him.

According to his renovation plan, the current swimming pool will be closed to make way for a new vast five storey, four star hotel. Furthermore, another five star hotel will be constructed where the current Ghion building lies. The new Ghion will have several presidential suits and helicopter-pads to host prominent guests from all over the world. According to the prince, the main entrance of the hotel will be moved to Meskel Square.

Prince Aklile is currently in Switzerland to mobilize money for the construction of the hotel. He says he will return to Ethiopian within fifteen days to start the renovation process by launching an international tender.

According to officials of PPEPSA about seven companies showed interest in the acquisition of the hotel recently, and they selected Prince Aklile’s company among them after evaluating the different proposals.

Constantinos Berhe (PhD), consultant of Dinkinesh, told businessmen and companies ever since the government invited interested parties to a joint venture a couple of years ago.

The Saudi billionaire Prince Al Wallid bin Tallal was among the first to show strong interest in buying the hotel. Other international companies followed suit in showing their interest in buying the hotel. Other international companies followed in a showing their interest in a co-ownership of the Ghion.

The Dhabi Group, which is based in Abu Dhabi and has a large number of subsidiaries operating in the industrial sector of the United Arab Emirates and Iraq, was among them. The Indian investment group TATA International also submitted a business plan PPESA.

Other interested companies were the Israeli Union Blessed Limited, which is engaged in real estate in Asia, South America and Israel, and SSO Properly Limited, a consortium of prospective investors from Nigeria and Dubai, for which Constantinos was also consulting.

The renovation project was expected to refurbish the hotel to a five star hotel with 250 rooms, a two thousand seat convection center, 230 apartments, and a mall with a cinema.

Capital, Sunday, 5 September 2010

Bwahahahahahahahahahahaha

Aklileberhan Mekonnen Haileselassie doesn't own a company in Germany.

There is no company named Dinkenesh in Germany. Bwahahahahahahahahahahah

The real owner of the Ghion Hotel will be EFFORT. It will be our Tigaru Hotel.

Do you think we give the best 5 star Hotel to fandiya faced adgi Amharu? Bwahahahahaha

We are using Aklileberhan Mekonnen Haileselassie as a puppet. Bwahahahahahahahahaaha

Siome three months ago the Woyanne regime shut down BEKELE MOLLA's Langano Hotel, immediately after EFFORT began constructing one of their own.

Now the same EFFORT is expanding Ghion, in order to take up the clients BEKELE MOLLA has been robbed. Bekele Molla has been famous for his Langano Hotel, even Derg did not touch him because it entertained most of the foreigners while employing thousands of people. Woyanne does not work, but rob what others build.

It is nice to see the royal family from Haile Selassie era involved in investing in Ethiopia.


Ghion 512 mln dollar deal closed
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Quote:
The privatization and public Enterprises Supervising authority (PPESA) has agreed to transfer Ghion Hotel located in the prime corner of Addis Ababa, bordering the national palace, to Aklile Berhan Mekonen Hailsellase, dubbed prince, i.e. one of the sons of prince Mekonnen. The acclaimed descendants of emperor Haile Selassie has been trying to obtain the hotel for many years and says he will upgrade it to “one of the best in Africa”.

Prince Aklile Berhane Mekonnen enterd a deal with PPEPSA to renovate one of the oldest hotels in Ethiopia with an investment of 512 million dollar to upgrade it to a five star hotel. The investor will own 80 Percent of the shares, while the rest will be government owned.

The prince bought the Hotel under his German-based company, Dinkenesh, named after his wife.

The prince is involved in various businesses, mainly focusing on financial and stock markets all over Europe. He says he was one of the last sons of Prince Mekonnen Haile Sillasie, who was one of the favorite sons of Emperor Haile Selassiee. He further said that it was his wish to buy his family’s property.
In an exclusive interview with Capital, Prince Aklile aid that the new Grand Ghion Hotel will be franchised by either Intercontinental Hotels or Hilton Hotels who both are interested.

Aklile is confident about the new Ghion’s future. He says he used to own the Florence Sheraton Hotel and two other hotels in the Italian capital Rome. And hence he doesn’t expect running the hotel in Addis Ababa to be difficult for him.

According to his renovation plan, the current swimming pool will be closed to make way for a new vast five storey, four star hotel. Furthermore, another five star hotel will be constructed where the current Ghion building lies. The new Ghion will have several presidential suits and helicopter-pads to host prominent guests from all over the world. According to the prince, the main entrance of the hotel will be moved to Meskel Square.

Prince Aklile is currently in Switzerland to mobilize money for the construction of the hotel. He says he will return to Ethiopian within fifteen days to start the renovation process by launching an international tender.

According to officials of PPEPSA about seven companies showed interest in the acquisition of the hotel recently, and they selected Prince Aklile’s company among them after evaluating the different proposals.

Constantinos Berhe (PhD), consultant of Dinkinesh, told businessmen and companies ever since the government invited interested parties to a joint venture a couple of years ago.

The Saudi billionaire Prince Al Wallid bin Tallal was among the first to show strong interest in buying the hotel. Other international companies followed suit in showing their interest in buying the hotel. Other international companies followed in a showing their interest in a co-ownership of the Ghion.

The Dhabi Group, which is based in Abu Dhabi and has a large number of subsidiaries operating in the industrial sector of the United Arab Emirates and Iraq, was among them. The Indian investment group TATA International also submitted a business plan PPESA.

Other interested companies were the Israeli Union Blessed Limited, which is engaged in real estate in Asia, South America and Israel, and SSO Properly Limited, a consortium of prospective investors from Nigeria and Dubai, for which Constantinos was also consulting.

The renovation project was expected to refurbish the hotel to a five star hotel with 250 rooms, a two thousand seat convection center, 230 apartments, and a mall with a cinema.

Capital, Sunday, 5 September 2010

| American Embassy in Ethiopia to be the largest in Africa | U/C
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The new United States Embassy compound in Ethiopia is to amalgamate four separate U.S. agencies in to a single facility in the middle of next month. The embassy is said to be the largest in Sub-Saharan Africa, according to Thomas I. FitzPatrick, the project director.

Construction work on the embassy started in January 2008 with a plan of amalgamating four separate agencies into the facility. Currently, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Center for Disease Control (CDC), the U.S. Mission to the African Union and the bilateral U.S. Mission to Ethiopia are housed in four separate buildings in three different compounds.

The amalgamation of these agencies into a single facility was meant for the enhancement of daily coordination and for leading this to a more effective long-term implementation of the U.S. Global Health Initiative. The amalgamation will also save a considerable amount of time lost each day while shuttling between the agencies. To ease the working process for consulate and visa appliers, the Bank of Abyssinia is also going to have representation for financial transaction purposes. The new embassy will be certified as a leadership in energy and environmental design facility.

“Operating in a green environment is of importance to the Obama Administration conduct of diplomacy overseas in energy-efficient buildings,” Mr. FitzPatrick told The Reporter.

B.L. Harbert International LLC, an American company, assumed the overall design and construction of the new compound; and the planning architect was Zimmer Gunsul Frasca (ZGF) ZGF was assisted by DTN Engineering in Addis Ababa on the site work.


Costing a total of 126.7 million dollars for design and construction, the new embassy covers an area of 19,894 sq.m. The project has resulted in approximately 18.2 million dollars in sub-contracts to Ethiopian contractors. It has also provided employment opportunities to about 1,500 local workers. The consolidation of those agencies has required the embassy to study the overall staffing of the mission. However, given the state-of-the art facility, it will immediately recruit 12 technical staff for maintenance purpose.
B.L. Harbert International LLC, which have over 25 years of experience in building embassies in Africa, took over five local workers who had earned skills during the project and shift them to the new project. Likewise, the company will take between five and 10 Ethiopian employees to the next job in Dakar, Senegal, Billy L. Harbert president, and CEO of the company, told The Reporter.

Multi-billion-shilling Lamu project taking shape

By DAVID OKWEMBAH
Daily Nation

Construction of Kenya’s second seaport in Lamu is taking shape with sketches already drawn and aerial photomapping being done in towns along the route.

The government’s lead consultant on the multi-billion-shilling project revealed that detailed designs for the first three berths are ready while hydraulic surveys have been completed.


Dr Mutule Kilonzo and the minister for Transport Amos Kimunya separately said the Japanese consultants hired by the government last April would submit the financial implications of constructing the port in a report next month.

Maritime experts see the port as a catalyst to position Kenya as a key trans-shipment hub. Initial estimates put the cost of building the port on Kenya’s extreme northeast coast at Sh1.2 trillion.

The project, code-named Lamu-Southern Sudan Ethiopia Transport (LAPSSET), has the following components:

•Lamu Port and Manda Bay
•Standard gauge railway line to Juba
•Road network
•Oil pipelines (Southern Sudan and Ethiopia)
Oil refinery at Lamu Three
•Airports
Three resort cities (Lamu, Isiolo and Lake Turkana shores)

The transport corridor is expected to serve an estimated population of 85 million Ethiopians and another 15 million from Southern Sudan. Once completed, LAPSSET is intended to increase business opportunities in tourism, agriculture and manufacturing.

Holland Car's assembly line to evolve
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Holland Car Plc is making preparations to take its car assembly process a step further by shifting to complete knockdown (CKD), where all the parts will be imported in pieces to be welded, painted and assembled in Ethiopia, it says.
So far it has been assembling vehicles from semi knockdown (SKD) kits, where parts are welded, painted and assembled. In its earlier relationship with Lifan Motors and now with Anhui Jianghuai Plc (JAC) Holland Car receives SKD kits. In a CKD, the parts, including the internal combustion engine and the transmission, will be supplied in parts for assembly by the receiving company.

This decision followed the problematic split the company had with its former supplier, the Chinese Lifan motors, which brought viability under such relationships into questions, Tadesse Tessema (Eng.), general manager and part-owner of the company, told Fortune.

"If we have to survive we have to do it all ourselves," Tadesse said.

Holland Car Plc undertook a feasibility study for six months and set up its research and development department two weeks ago, according to Tadesse.

The department comprises three people, including Jeffery D. Jenks, an American automotive engineer, and two Ethiopians specialising in biogas and marketing. The department will be responsible for transforming the operations of the company from semi-knockdown (SKD) to complete knockdown (CKD).

In a CKD, the company will need to set up body coating line, welding line, engine assembly line and mechanical testing line, Tadesse said, which could require the company a capital of 35 million Br.

"Some of it will come from us. We will have to borrow the rest from banks," he said.

The company currently has 250 employees, but Tadesse says that that may double when the company shifts from SKD to CKD even though the company already has all the professionals it needs for the new process. Four people have already returned from training in China on logistics, assembly, coating and maintenance, he said.
The company also announced, last week, that it had started assembling vehicles that could run on biogas and petroleum, stored in different tanks, to supply to the market cars that cut the cost of fuel consumption. It established Sheger Biogas Manufacturing Company to produce biogas for the new vehicles it is assembling to run on this fuel.

A tanker and some industrial machinery for the new plant were delivered early in January from China and the Netherlands, respectively, the company disclosed at an event organised for journalists on January 14, 2010.

The new plant will be constructed on a 50,000sqm site in Burayu, 15km from Addis Abeba, in the Oromia Special Zone, Tadesse Tessema (Eng.) general manager of the company told Fortune.

The total cost of machinery and equipment to be procured cost three million dollars, according to him.

The new delivery included one large tank to hold the human and animal excreta and other organic wastes from agro-industries and other sources, which is imported from China, and industrial machinery from the Netherlands, which will convert these wastes to biogas.

The company also demonstrated the first model of Abay Executive sedan which runs on biogas. The biogas holder fitted for this car has a capacity for 60 litres. Awash Executive will also be made to run on biogas.

All models will also run on conventional fuel, and the drivers can switch between the two sources, Tadesse said.

The biogas plant will be operational in seven months, according to Tadesse, when it could have a capacity to produce 500,000 litres in its first year.

After seven months, when the company commences full operation it will have the capacity of generating 500,000 litres of biogas the first year.

There is no fear of shortage of waste, according to the manager, as over one million cubic litres of waste is collected from Addis Abeba.

The biogas could be available to car owners at five to six Birr a litre, which could cut the cost of fuel by half, he said. The gas will also be available for household use.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201001190652.html
New step
Buzzing on his success and the competition he managed to initiate in the market, Holland Car CEO Tadesse is even embarking on a new project where he will be working towards producing the first fully Ethiopian cars. A huge factory to cater for this is being built and is expected to be completed in two months time.