Construction works for the new complex of the East African Community (EAC) headquarters will cost a whooping 14 million euros, it has emerged. The complex to be built next to the Arusha International Conference Centre (AICC), had in 2005 been estimated to cost Euro 8 million, but later required an additional Euro 6 million for expansion to cater for Rwanda and Burundi’s entry into the EAC. According to the EAC Senior Estates Management Officer Phil Makini Klerruu, the whole sum of Euros 14 million for the full construction was provided by the German government under its current integration assistance programme to the EAC. “All is set now and we are looking at starting the tendering procedures in the near future. The required processes under the EAC regulations will involve all the five partner states,” Klerruu said. It is reported that the project, which had initially planned to start in late 2005, was delayed because of the cumbersome procedures in approving the architectural designs that would cater for Rwanda and Burundi. The AICC, which is owned by the Tanzanian government, is currently housing the regional inter-governmental organization which pays approximately $400,000 per year in rent. EAC headquarters construction will be the second major infrastructural development project for the Community after the commencement of the rehabilitation of the Arusha-Namanga-Athi River road last year. Another project expected to take off soon is the Power Interconnection Project between Kenya and Tanzania at the Namanga border point. AICC, a complex formerly owned by the EAC that collapsed in 1977, was later taken up the Tanzanian government, as Kenya and Uganda took up similar ventures that included airways, marine vessels, and commercial organizations like the East African Development Bank (EADB). Ends
