Ethiopia has restarted a project to build the tallest building in sub-Saharan Africa: a $445m, 62-storey headquarters for its state-owned electricity utility, local website Birr Metrics reports.
Ethiopian Electric Power (EEP) first proposed the tower in 2023, but progress was hampered by difficulties in finance. Now it has opened the bidding process for interested local and international contractors.
The tower was designed by Beirut-based consulting engineer Dar Al-Handasah, which will also oversee the procurement and construction processes. Tenders are being sought from contractors that have at least 10 years’ experience, and have completed at least three contracts worth $370m apiece or more.
The work will be let as an engineering, procurement and construction contract, and the schedule will cover four years.
If built as designed, the tower will be 327.5m tall, putting it well above the 234m Leonardo tower in Johannesburg, the present holder of the record, and the second-placed Commercial Bank of Ethiopia, which at 209m tall is the highest in the East African region.
The tower will be built on a 2.8ha site in the Kirkos district, near Addis Ababa’s new central business district. It will have a floor area of 197,800 sq m, and apart from offices, it will have a rooftop sky garden and restaurant.
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