The Federal Housing Corporation is reviewing its structure on how to accommodate employees from the now dissolved Building Materials Supply Enterprise. The restructuring is expected to be completed in the coming 10 days, after which complaints can be submitted.
Pursuant to an amendment of a regulation by the Council of Ministers last July, the Enterprise, established in 1994, was dissolved and its rights and obligations transferred to the Housing Corporation.
The Corporation is now able to supply construction input materials by manufacturing or through procurement under a new department called the Construction Input Provision Division.
Following this, the management of the two entities has been engaged for the past three weeks in integrating the Enterprise’s staff within the Corporation.
The new department has been given three tasks, the production of construction inputs, procurement of construction inputs from inland or overseas markets and sale to other entities. It also performs maintenance and repair of construction machinery, light and heavy vehicles as well as other equipment, such as lifts and pumps.
The Enterprise, established with 20.9 million Br in capital, has been producing and importing various types of construction input materials to supply other governmental and non-governmental projects with the aim of stabilising the market.
Some of the activities of the Enterprise include the production of quarry materials like gravel, sand, selected materials and blocks; manufactured steel and wood products; and performing maintenance and repair work.
“Transferring the rights and duties of the Enterprise to the Corporation expedites the effective execution of the mission and objective of the latter,” says Kibrom G. Medhin, corporate communications director at the Corporation. “There will be no cuts to staff as everyone will be given jobs in the Corporation.”
The Enterprise has 141 staff, which will be reassigned to the Corporation’s departments, including into the newly established Construction Input Provision Division. The other three are Housing Development, Housing Administration and Corporate Service division.
The Corporation, established in 1993 and re-established in March 2017 with 33.2 billion Br in capital, has 1,500 employees, and maintains 18,000 housing and commercial units constructed during the Dergueregime.
Currently, it is in a bidding process to build 16,000 residential and commercial buildings in the next three years.
Fantahun Hagos, the former CEO of the dissolved Enterprise, told Fortunethat he has no objection to the decision by the Council of Ministers, since it allows the Corporation greater opportunity to produce and earn more by combining resources.
Nonetheless, Tewabe Lakew, a member of the restructuring committee and chairperson of the Employees Association at the Enterprise, worries that some staff may get moved to lower positions when they join the Corporation.
“If there is too much focus only on educational backgrounds, some staff may get demoted,” he said. “This may cause a turnover among experienced staff.”
The enterprise has more hands-on work in maintenance, repair and operating of crushers which requires experience, he said.
A human resources management expert at Addis Abeba University’s College of Business & Economics believes that dissolving the Enterprise was a good move but stresses that some challenges may come.
“The management of the host enterprise has to be aware of the challenges to come, especially in reconciling the working culture of the two organisations,” Worku Mekonnen (PhD) said.
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