Nib Picks Contractor for HQ after Three Tries

Nib Insurance hired China Communications Construction Company (CCCC) to construct its head office.

The agreement will cost the 16-year-old private insurance firm 812 million Br after a negotiated discount of one percent.

“Our current offices are not convenient for our daily tasks, and the rent price is increasing from time to time,” Zufan Abebe, CEO of Nib, which has grown its capital to 250 million Br and its shareholders number, to 1,014 from 658 and 50 million initial capital during its formation.

The firm’s annual rent for its the current headquarters, located in Dembel City Centre along Africa Avenue, cost 15 million Br annualy.

Lying on 1,435Sqm of land, Nib spent more than nine million Br to lease the land on Africa Avenue beside Mega Building a decade ago. The building will have 23 stories, including four basements and a mezzanine.

Seventeen construction companies bought bidding documents for the tender first floated last April and opened in June. From the total, seven firms submitted their technical and financial proposals.

To process the tender, Nib formed three teams to evaluate the technical proposals.

“We formed professional teams selected from the construction industry associations,” Zufan said. “The evaluation was done with a secret code and in the presence of a witness and an auditor.”

The evaluation took place at the head office. The technical stage had two levels, a preliminary qualification evaluation and technical proposal evaluation. Only Rama Construction passed the former beside CCCC, and no firm other than the winning contractor made it to the financial evaluation stage.

This is the third time that Nib floated a tender for the headquarters. The first was cancelled after Ethiopia Grade One Contractors Association protested that the tender was exclusive to local contractors.

On the second attempt, the construction firm floated two tenders, one for the foundation and the other for the civil work. But both of those tenders were cancelled after the Ethics & Anti-Corruption Commission’s halt, claiming that separating the construction work discourages local contractors.

The Commission lifted the suspension after it ordered the company to take corrective measures.

Now that a contractor has been hired, the board of directors and shareholders are glad to have closed the book on the delay.

“We went through many ups and down to reach this,” said Berhanu W. Giorgis, chairperson of Nib’s board.

Nib hired Dunya Consulting Architects & Engineers half a decade ago to design the building and consult on the construction work. Dunya has consulted on several construction projects, including Easter Zone and Private Employees Social Security Agency’s Headquarters.

Dunya will be paid 79,000 Br a month throughout the length of the project.

The construction will start in two months and is set to be finalised in three years, according to Zufan.

“If all the stakeholders collaborate, we can finalise the construction within the specified time,” said Wei Qiangyu, deputy general manager of CCCC.

Nib recently finalised a nine-floor building in Dire Dawa for 123 million Br. It also owns a multi-purpose store building in Addis Abeba.

In the last fiscal year, the company generated a gross premium of 486 million and expanded its branches to 40. The company now has 419 employees, of which 56pc are women.


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