President of Ethiopia’s Oromia region Shimelis Abdisa on Wednesday laid cornerstone for an Oromia region palace project in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa.
The palace project which will lie on more than six hectares’ area of land in Bole district of Addis Ababa is expected to be completed in two years’ period, according to press statement from Oromia Region Communication Bureau (ORCB).
The ORCB statement didn’t disclose the amount of money that’s slated to be spent to complete the palace project.
China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) has been contracted to build the Oromia region palace project.
Once completed the palace is expected to be four storey tall and include Offices for the Oromia region President and Oromia region cabinet members.
Separately, the administration of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed is engaged in construction of several luxurious palace projects in various parts of Ethiopia.
The most controversial of PM Abiy’s palace projects, the Chaka (forest) project estimated to eventually cost between 500 billion Ethiopian birr (9 billion U.S. dollars) and (1 trillion Ethiopian birr) more than 18 billion U.S. dollars is already causing fears that it will displace hundreds of thousands Addis Ababa and surrounding residents.
The construction of numerous luxurious place projects by the federal and regional governments is happening amidst runaway cost of living, deepening poverty, security crisis and chronic foreign currency shortage in the east African country.
