By Merga Yonas

The new United States Embassy compound in Ethiopia is to amalgamate four separate U.S. agencies in to a single facility in the middle of next month. The embassy is said to be the largest in Sub-Saharan Africa, according to Thomas I. FitzPatrick, the project director.

Construction work on the embassy started in January 2008 with a plan of amalgamating four separate agencies into the facility. Currently, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Center for Disease Control (CDC), the U.S. Mission to the African Union and the bilateral U.S. Mission to Ethiopia are housed in four separate buildings in three different compounds.

The amalgamation of these agencies into a single facility was meant for the enhancement of daily coordination and for leading this to a more effective long-term implementation of the U.S. Global Health Initiative. The amalgamation will also save a considerable amount of time lost each day while shuttling between the agencies. To ease the working process for consulate and visa appliers, the Bank of Abyssinia is also going to have representation for financial transaction purposes. The new embassy will be certified as a leadership in energy and environmental design facility.

“Operating in a green environment is of importance to the Obama Administration conduct of diplomacy overseas in energy-efficient buildings,” Mr. FitzPatrick told The Reporter.

B.L. Harbert International LLC, an American company, assumed the overall design and construction of the new compound; and the planning architect was Zimmer Gunsul Frasca (ZGF) ZGF was assisted by DTN Engineering in Addis Ababa on the site work.

Costing a total of 126.7 million dollars for design and construction, the new embassy covers an area of 19,894 sq.m. The project has resulted in approximately 18.2 million dollars in sub-contracts to Ethiopian contractors. It has also provided employment opportunities to about 1,500 local workers. The consolidation of those agencies has required the embassy to study the overall staffing of the mission. However, given the state-of-the art facility, it will immediately recruit 12 technical staff for maintenance purpose.

B.L. Harbert International LLC, which have over 25 years of experience in building embassies in Africa, took over five local workers who had earned skills during the project and shift them to the new project. Likewise, the company will take between five and 10 Ethiopian employees to the next job in Dakar, Senegal, Billy L. Harbert president, and CEO of the company, told The Reporter.

EthiopianReporter