Arusha — Construction for the East African Community headquarters will officially commence on the 14th of September this year and is expected to be completed in September 2011.

Senior EAC Estates Management Officer, Phil Makini Kleruu said this week that the project would cost 14 million Euros equivalent to Tsh. 30.2 billion and the four storey building will be built on Plot number 12 Block 111 in Sekei area, adjacent to the Arusha International Conference Center.

Left: A bird's eye view of the proposed EAC complex. Right top: its plenary hall and Bottom: Entrance lobby.

"There have been speculations about tentative dates of construction or feared postponement of the project but take it from me, the September schedule is the official time," he said.

The good news is that those two historical buildings, including the one which used to house former EAC founders, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta and Milton Obote will be preserved and in fact, according to Mr. Kleruu, one of them is going to be turned into a special museum.

As a tenant to the Arusha International Conference Center, the community secretariat pays an annual rent of US $450,000 which is about half a billion Tanzanian shillings. The EAC is also paying additional rents to the Safari Hotel Building and Diamond Trust complex where it has outsourced tenancy due to limited space at the AICC.

"But isn't the proposed area rather small?" Kleruu however does not think so; "The proposed three-winged EAC complex will sprout on a 9.8 acres of land," he said, which according to the Estate officer, is much larger than the area currently occupied by the mammoth AICC complex which measures up to 8.8 acres.

"The final opening of tender bids will take place in the last week of April," said Kleruu adding that they received 47 bids from interested parties in Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda but none from either Rwanda or Burundi.

Germany has granted the community funds for the construction. The project was to start in 2006 but had to be shelved after it became apparent that the initial funding was inadequate and the EAC had to apply for more grants.