#ASDailyScoop: Condominium Contractors unpaid for up to two years; Housing Corp. blames inability to raise bond loans

Addis Abeba – Contractors who are engaged in the construction of state-managed condominiums projects in the capital Addis Abeba said they were subjected to various social crises because they had not been paid for up to two years. In some cases, even payments that were approved as recently as June last year were not disbursed to the Contractors.

As a result, the Contractors were unable to pay their workers and are forced to disperse them without paying their salaries, which in tern resulted in halting construction works. The absence of security guards, who had to be laid off their work, were also exposing the unfinished condominium houses to extensive thefts and property damages. Furthermore, the contractors were unable to service loans owed to various banks, deepening the social and economic problems they were facing.

The contractors, who spoke to party owned FanaBC, said they had repeatedly approached the offices of relevant authorities including the Addis Abeba Housing Development Corporation and the city Administration, for payments to the works they have done, but had not received a proper response.

Gashaw Tefera, Communication Bureau head at the Addis Abeba Housing Development Corporation Communication Director, admitted the payment delayed but said it was because the Corporation was unable to raise bond loans due to various man-made and natural disasters the country including drought, locust invasion, the war in northern Ethiopia. Gashaw also mentioned the construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), which required the government’s full attention.

Gashaw said he was unsure as to when the contractors will be paid because “the money is not in our hands” but as soon as the bond loan is released the contractors who are under the Corporation will have priority to receive payments. AS