Thursday, May 23, 2013

Ayat Real Estate CEO Ayalew sentenced to 12 years, Ayat S.C to pay 90 mln birr

The Eighth Criminal Bench of the Federal High Court, Lideta Division, on May 22, passed a 12-year sentence against Ayalew Tessema founder and CEO of Ayat S.C. and a 90-million birr fine against the company.

Apart from that, construction machinery worth some 86 million birr was ordered to be confiscated.

It can be recalled that prosecutors of the Ethiopian Revenues and Customs Authority (ERCA) requested court to hand down a 3-billion-birr fine against Ayat S.C. and a 79-year jail term and a 2.7-million-birr fine Ayalew, who were found guilty of multiple counts of crime by the court on March 11.

According to the federal court's decision, the share company has been fined 90,091,270 birr while Ayalew will pay 3,235,543.50 birr in fine.


In a submission on sentencing dated April 17, the prosecutors asked the court that the share company pay over 3 billion birr in fine for violating a raft of banking and monetary legislations, the Value Added Tax, Income Tax and Customs proclamations as well as the Criminal Code.

Ayat was found guilty on 8 counts.



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Meskel Square to Bole road open for traffic



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Friday, May 17, 2013

40:60 and 10:90 Addis Ababa Condominium Registration Dates $ Prices

[Update - September 03, 2015] - 40/60 Condominium Locations, Number of Houses, Number of Blocks and Current Status

UPDATE : 20/80 and 10/90 CONDOMINIUM UNITS HAVE BEEN TRANSFERRED TO HOME OWNERS ON MARCH 22, 2015.

List of names for 10/90 condominium apartment winners Addis Ababa Ethiopia.

List of names for 20/80 condominium apartment winners Addis Ababa Ethiopia.

To get the latest updates on condominium construction in Ethiopia, check the below links.
- 40/60 Condominium
- 20/80 Condominium
- 10/90 Condominium


Moved by a larger demand for the 40/60 housing scheme, the Ministry of Urban Development, Housing & Construction (MUDHC) has prepared three new designs of up to 24 storeys.

Apart from the 12 storey buildings under construction at different sites across the city, the rest of the buildings to be constructed under the new scheme will be 16, 18 and 20 storey with two basements, and 24 storey buildings with three basements, according to Desta Shewamola, head of Houses & Building Design Preparation & Implementation Department.

The Ministry has commissioned the preparation of the designs to ETG Designers & Consultants Plc, for the design of the 16, 20 and 24 storey buildings while the Addis Abeba Savings & Houses Development Enterprise (AASHDE) has prepared the design for the 18 storey buildings. ETG is a category 1 consulting and designing firm established in 1995.

The decision to increase the height of the buildings to be constructed under the scheme is made in order to accommodate the larger demand of houses through an efficient use of the lands apportioned for the purpose, according to Desta.

In addition to the increased number of houses to be included in the newly designed buildings, the proportion of the types of houses to be included in each of these buildings will also vary from those currently under construction.

The Ministry has availed three types of houses under the 40/60 scheme based on the number of bedrooms they accommodate. Accordingly, the 12 storey buildings under construction encompasses one bedroom, two bedroom and three bedroom houses, the number of which are equally proportional in each of the buildings.

Nonetheless, the design of the 12 storey buildings, which was made before registration of the house was made, that has incorporated all the three types of the houses in proportional number is found to be incompatible with the demand manifested for each of the three types of houses during the registration under the scheme.

Out of the total number of 160,000 residents registered under the scheme, only four percent is registered for one bed room houses and 46pc for the two bed room while half have registered for the three bed room houses.

Currently, there are 12,279 houses  that are being constructed at nine sites across the city under the scheme. Out of this the construction progress of those at Lideta District, Senga Tera area has reached 61pc while those that started in the last fiscal year, at other sites have reached 12pc completion, according to the final draft of the annual performance of the Ministry.

City residents who are registered under this scheme must save 40pc of the value of the houses within five years and the government arranges a loan for the remaining 60pc from the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) by mortgaging the house to be transferred to the user upon completion.

One, two and three bedroom houses under the 40/60 scheme cost  162,000 Br, 250,000 Br and 386,000 Br, respectively. The respective monthly savings are 1,033 Br, 1,575 Br and 2,453 Br for five years.

The construction cost of the buildings for the house seekers under the scheme is, however, adjustable based on the market price of the construction materials. Besides, the cost of the newly designed buildings may differ from the current amount, according to Desta.

“The price of the houses may increase,” says Desta. “The government, however, may subsidise it.”

Every building to be built based on the new designs will have an electric power generator that will serve the houses in case of a power shortage, according to Desta.

In addition to those in progress under the 40/60 scheme, the government is also constructing 124, 220 houses under the 20/80 low cost housing scheme. Out of this, the construction of 71, 127, which were begun in 2010/11 and 2011/12, has reached 91.2pc while that of 13, 014 houses has reached 13.28pc; those whose construction started in 2013/14 fiscal year are at basement stage. The total number of house seekers that are registered under this scheme is 780,000 residents of the city, according to data from the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE).

The third category of the low cost housing types underway by the government is the 10/90 scheme, for which around 20,000 house seekers are registered, according to data from the CBE.  The construction progress of the 24,288 houses for the registrants under this scheme have reached 62.17pc, according to data from the MoUDHC.

The government has now used 6.3 billion Br which has been raised through the sale of bonds for the construction of these houses, the Ministry says that so far 1.25 billion Br has been spent on the 40/60 houses currently under construction.

Thursday, May 2, 2013

Affordable Guided Tour to Erta Ale

Location: Lat. 13.6N, Long. 40.7E
Elevation: 2,011 feet (613 m)
Erta Ale is a very remote and rarely visited shield volcano in the Afar region of East Africa. It is Ethiopia's most active volcano and it has been in a state of continuous eruption since 1967. Daytime temperatures will likely be above 40 degrees Celcius and the base of the volcano actually lies below sea level and it's summit rises up to 613 Meters. Erta Ale is known for it's 2 pit craters which have had active lava lakes in the past.
Erta Ale has undergone seven eruption events in the past 125 years. Three of the early eruption dates, 1873, 1903, and 1904 are uncertain. However, 1906, 1940, 1960, and 1967 are well established events. Erta Ale has been erupting continuously since 1967.
Two new studies on Erta Ale have recently been published. Oppenheimer and Francis (1998) looked at the implications of long-lived lava lakes. They believe that Erta Ale's lava lake has been active for at least the last 90 years (making it one of the longest known historic eruptions). Large amounts of heat are released by the volcano but the amount of lava that erupts is relatively small. Oppenheimer and Francis speculated that a higher magma density (caused by the cooling of the lava in the lake) inhibits eruptions. They proposed that most of the magma accumulates in the underlying crust in the form of dikes and sills. Since the Afar region is under extension, conditions are favorable for the injection of dikes and sills.
Barrat and others (1998) looked at the chemistry of the rocks at Erta Ale. Rocks range in composition from basalt to rhyolite. Barrat and others found that two mantle sources were tapped for the basalts: one similar in composition to the source for mid-ocean ridge basalts (called MORB by geochemists) and one similar in composition to the source for ocean-island basalts (called OIB). Their data did not show a significant contribution of sialic material from the continental crust. The silica-rich volcanics are derived from fractional crystallization of basaltic magmas.

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