The latest road design from Core Consulting Engineers Plc will take into consideration the design of the road form Meskel Square to Bole Airport along Africa Avenue, which is awaiting a financing decision from the Council of Ministers.
Core consulting Engineers Plc was awarded a 3.6 million Br road design project from Torhayloch to Megenagna, on Thursday, September 29, 2011 from the Addis Abeba City Roads Authority (AACRA), on which a Light Railway Train (LRT) track will run. The road passes through Mexico, La Gare, Meskel Square, Hayahulet Mazoria, Lem Hotel area and Megenagna.
Engineer Eskinder Zewede & Co Plc, Beza Consulting, Renardet SA. Consulting Engineers, a Swiss company, and Unicon, an Indian company had responded to the invitation put forth by the authority in May this year. However, Core was awarded the design as it had offered to do it for 50pc less than the second lowest offer, according to Fekade Haile, general manager of AACRA.
The 9.2km long and 40 metre-wide road project is not the first of its kind Core has won from the city roads authority. It previously won the 8.2 km long design of the road from Ayat to Megenagna, also for LRT tracks, offering a similar price as it has now. This road which is relatively new already has a 15-meter wide space in the middle for the construction of LRT track. The design of the road for the LRT has been submitted by Core to AACRA.
For the design of the new road, Core has only nine months to finish and submit its design, according to the contract signed on Thursday.
The road project may involve the demolishing of the road sides located at Lideta District, Mexico round about, Meskel Square, Hayahulet Mazoria and Lem Hotel area, according to Fekade.
“The design will also include the construction of a new passage at Megenanga round about under the existing bridge,” he told Fortune.
The design will also take into consideration the road construction planned from Meskel square to Bole Airport along Africa Avenue, Ephrem G.egziabher, project manager of Core told Fortune.
AACRA had planned to start the construction of the 4.3km long and 40-metre wide road, which was to be constructed by China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) Addis Engineering Plc, at a cost of 60 million Br in February 2011. However, it has been delayed due to complications in financing. It is now awaiting approval from the Council of Ministers, which is reviewing the project cost according to Fekade.
The road was designed by Eng. Zewdie Eskinder & Co Plc, for a fee of 610,000 Br. It is this design that the new LRT road design by Core Consulting will take into consideration.
The design of this road for the LRT track is part of the city-wide plan to construct a long term mass transit network, consisting of different modes: LRT and the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT). The latter has a two-phase implementation strategy: Light BRT forms part of the first phase and full BRT comprises the second phase. They are scheduled for implementation in mid-2011 and 2013, respectively.
The former would be the first to be implemented as it does not require heavy work, unlike the latter that needs full street renewal, Fekade had told Fortune previously.
A total of seven potential BRT corridors have been chosen for the city: Ayer Tena – Tor Hailoch – Wingate (B1), Gofa Gebriel – Mexico – Merkato – Wingate (B2), Gofa Gebriel – La Gare – Gulele (B3), Meganagna – Arat Kilo – Shiro Meda (B4), Megenagna – Bole (B5), Bole Airport – La Gare (B6), and Tor Hailoch – Lideta – Kera – Bole (B7).
Among the criteria used for selecting the corridor to be implemented first, easy implementation, serving middle and low income groups, and limited impact on existing traffic were considered.
Accordingly, corridor B2 was selected as the road that would not need widening, which makes implementation relatively easy, in a study done by Egis Rail and Lyon Town Planning Agency (LTPA), which was hired as a consultant in 2005, and presented it in October 2010.
The corridor, which is 12-km long and will comprise 17 stops with an average distance of 700 metres between them, will be done according to the study.
The first phase will be implemented from Gofa Gebriel to Regional Bus Station, covering eight kilometres, by re-adjusting the existing roads, according to sources close to the companies who had conducted the study.
Beza Consulting Engineering Plc, the winner out of the 10 who had submitted proposals for the project, signed a contract for the design in November 2010.
Source: addisfortune.com