Century Promotion is back on the scene to organise the New Year’s Exhibition, after more than three months of confrontation with the Addis Abeba Exhibition Centre & Development Enterprise.
Following the deal reached between the two, the court case filed by Century Promotion was dropped upon its request.
The change in the dynamics, however, is not a retreat by either party, but rather a failure of Dum Promotion plc – the announced winner a few months back.
Dum Promotion, which beat its competitors with an offer of 20.1 million Br, failed to commit on time. The loophole opened room for the Enterprise to reconsider the award, which brought about an end to what could have potentially ended up not only in a civil court case, but at the criminal benches too.
The back and forth in the bidding process was so tense that authorities from the City’s Finance Bureau threatened to take the case to the Federal Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission.
The Enterprise has been in a series of back and forths since the bidding process started in February 2016. Back then, the Enterprise called interested bidders to prepare the bazaar, with five companies in the sector having submitted proposals. In this regard, Century gave its respective offer, which was five million birr less than Dum’s. Indeed, Century’s offer was only the third highest.
While Shadeam Media offered 17.8 million Br, the remaining bidders – Habesha Weekly and Eyoha Entertainment & Events – offered 14.7 million Br and 13.6 million Br, respectively.
However, following this, the Enterprise decided to drop the two bidders with the highest offers on the basis of technical evaluations. Both bidders then brought their case to the Addis Abeba City Finance Bureau, whereby they requested its intervention. By this time, the Enterprise awarded the contract to Century and soon after signed a contract.
In a turn of events, the Bureau accepted Dum’s appeal and wrote a letter ordering the Enterprise to reverse its deal with Century. One of the justifications given by the Bureau to decide in favour of Dum was that the deal with Century would be financially disadvantageous to the City administration.
The Enterprise then accepted the Bureau’s decision and awarded the contract to Dum. This was signed between the two on May 27, 2016, stating that Dum will start the payments within three days.
However, Dum could not manage to settle the payment and came with another alternative. The two then agreed that Dum will first settle the 15pc payment.
“We proposed to them to pay half of the total payment in Certified Payment Orders (CPO),” said Eyob Assefa, communications head of Dum. “However, they declined to accept and sent a final notice to pay the required money, as per the contract.”
The Enterprise then cancelled the contract with Dum.
In the meantime, Century had already taken its case to the court, managing to get an injunction order on June 10, 2016, from the Federal High Court. However, after the cancellation of Dum’s contract, Century agreed with the Enterprise to get the injunction order lifted and re-secure the contract.
Close to 150 companies and individuals have already registered, paying half the total price for the rental of their exhibition space to Century. The 23,000sqm exhibition compound located in the heart of the capital, Mesqel Square, accommodates more than 350 exhibitors.
Century’s price index quotes 51,000Br for a nine square metre stand inside the main halls, and 38,000 Br to 46,000 Br for the same sized stand outside the halls, depending on the location of the spots. The amount collected so far could be close to three million Br.
Century, a veteran in the industry, was established in 1991 and has organised more than 20 international exhibitions in the country under the theme of “Addis Trade for Development”. In this year alone, it has organised four major exhibitions – both in Addis Abeba and elsewhere in the country.
“We are rushing to prepare ourselves in a short period,” Zewege Jemaneh, General Manager of Century, commented.
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