Senior Officials Secure Residential Plot For Living Upon Their Retirement

Houses are to be built in an area secured for senior government officials to live when they retire. The residential villas will be transferred to the president, the prime minister and the deputy prime ministers, The Reporter has learnt.

The city administration carried out a seismic test on soil in the Wor Lote-Meri Loke residential area, Yeka Sub City on Friday. Six blocks of three story villas will be built on the 20,000 square-meter plot within eight months, according to sources from the Ministry for Urban Development and Construction that secured the land from the city administration. The project has been passed to the department of house development and government house construction under the ministry.

Senior government officials, MPs, and federal judges who have served the public would have a right to possess a residential house and salary, according to proclamation number 353/2001.

Negasso Gidada (Ph.D.), the former president, does not enjoy his right as he joined an opposition group, thus violating the proclamation. While his successor, the former president Girma Woldegiorgis, currently lives in a rented house with 410,000 Birr monthly pay, which prompted the decision to build houses for officials after they retire from national duty.

The land secured by the ministry for the housing scheme used to be owned by Sunshine Construction Plc., but it lost the rights after failure to use the plot. The rest of the land from the 20,000 square-meters will be used by the Ethiopia-America Physician Groups, established by Ethio-Americans and the Diaspora to build a hospital.
Source: The Reporter