The Chinese construction firm, Zhejiang Yefeng, hired by Ethiopian Airlines this week officially started constructing 2,502 residential houses for employees of the airline at a cost of 1.5 billion birr ( 1 usd is equivalent to 16.3 birr). Ethiopian leased 313,472 sq.m of land for the construction of the employees houses from the Addis Ababa City Administration three years ago in eastern part of Addis Ababa. The construction will take four years. In the first phase 1,266 houses will be built and in the second 1,236. The cost of the construction will be covered by a loan from the commercial banks and payment from that would be deducted from the employees salary. Some employees avoided the enrollment saying the price of the houses are too expensive for them compared to their salaries and others said this was a scam aimed at preventing them to flee the airline. The airline said this was one of the plans it designed to improve the living condition of its staff. Ethiopian has over 5,000 employees.
ET’S EMPLOYEES HOUSE CONSTRUCTION KICKS OFF
