Binyam Tamene
20 August 2008
Addis Abeba — The price of condominium houses, projected to alleviate the problem of housing in the urban areas, may increase due to the soaring price of logistic materials in the world market, the Ministry of Work and Urban Development (MoWUD) said on Monday.
Briefing journalists on efforts accomplished by the year 2000 and budget plan of 2001 Ethiopian fiscal year, State Minister Dr Kassu Yilala said the ever-increasing price of materials used for construction could be seen as the main factor for the increment.
"The price should reflect the cost of logistic materials used in building the houses," the minister said.
Dr Kassu said that the price of selected materials and other major inputs particularly cement has witnessed unprecedented hike, while the supply of sand and gravel are declining due to rising demand in the country's construction sector.
The Minister said his office was also looking into how the increment should be made.
"Over 1.5 million tons of cement is needed," said the state minister. "We, however, can not say our capacity is enough to provide the construction material needed," he admitted.
The minister said the government has already allocated budget to import over 1.2 million tons of cement.
According to the State Minister other construction materials like steel, sanitary and electrical materials were also the major logistic materials which the country satisfies its demand from importing in the housing development materials.
"Because of the price hike and other issues, the construction of the low cost condominium houses could not be concluded within the time frame," added the minister.
"With current expansion of capacity in the private construction sector and consultancy services the problem will be concluded soon." According to the ministry, currently the total number of private constructors engaged in housing development reached over 2,003 and the number of construction consultants reaching fifty.
During the year 1999, the government has launched the construction of 61 thousand condos in 36 cities and in 2000, 83 thousand in 59 cities as well as least developed regions, with only Addis Ababa having finalized a numbers of condos and distributed to its residents.
Dr Kassu said the ministry aims to complete the construction of the whole 114 thousand condos in the upcoming Ethiopian fiscal year, followed by the distributions begin by the same year.
The ministry's five-year plan ending 2010 envisages the construction of 400,000 condos in different cities across the country, which is projected to consume 20 billion Ethiopian birr.
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