Project Construction of the EAC headquarters
Project region EAC: Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda
Project partner EAC
Project term To December 2011
Budget EUR 8 million initial commitment | EUR 6 million top-up
Context
The German Government has supported the process of regional integration in East Africa since the end of the 1990s. Three countries in the region, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, joined together again in 1999 to form the EAC in order to cooperate more closely on economic and policy matters. Rwanda and Burundi joined in 2007. The first important step in the direction of economic integration was completed in 2005 with the creation of a customs union. The EAC has also set itself ambitious goals for the coming years: the establishment of a common market, with complete freedom of movement for labour, followed by a currency union and the creation of a political federation are on the agenda of the regional organisation.
However, the EAC is impeded in the fulfilment of its tasks by its material circumstances: despite the EAC’s increasing importance and recognition that it enjoys in its member states and also internationally, it still has no headquarters building of its own. At the EAC’s main location in Arusha, Tanzania, the Secretariat, the East African Legislative Assembly and the East African Court of Justice are currently accommodated in rented rooms. Not only are the conference rooms very small for the given purpose, the available office space is also barely sufficient for the growing number of employees, not least as a result of Rwanda and Burundi joining the organisation.
Project
Germany is therefore supporting the EAC in the con- struction of a headquarters of its own. The planned modern office building is intended to provide enough space for the roughly 350 employees and for all three organs of the EAC under one roof.
The design of the headquarters was completed in 2008 after a comprehensive planning phase. According to the current status of the preparations, the EAC headquarters will essentially comprise three building components: • the Plenary Tower, containing the plenary hall for the
Legislative Assembly;
• three four-storey wings, connected by an entrance hall, intended to accommodate the office space; • ‘cubes’ accommodating conference halls, court rooms,
rooms for technical facilities, a restaurant and a library. The planned structure therefore not only provides the employees of the EAC administration with the physical surroundings they need in order to be able to perform their duties appropriately, it also meets the requirements of a regional headquarters. The EAC building meets modern security standards, being designed for visits by high-ranking politicians from member states and third countries. The requisite communications technology for conference rooms and the plenary hall has also been incorporated into the design.
As at: June 2011 F A C T S H E E T : R E G I O N A L E C O N O M I C I N T E G R A T I O N Photo: KfW | Jens M. Neuhaus
During the planning stage it quickly became apparent that the office space envisaged at the time of project design would not be sufficient. In the medium term, space requirements will rise significantly, not least because of the expansion to include two further member states. Furthermore, the East African Court of Justice has now been relocated to Arusha. The understandable desire of the EAC to accommodate all of its organs in one building complex also drove construction costs higher. The funds pledged by German financial coop- eration amounting to EUR 8 million were therefore not sufficient to finance the project. Consequently, in 2007 the German Government agreed to the application from the EAC to increase the German financial contribution by EUR 6 million and thus to enable construction of the entire building to proceed.
Results
Upon completion of the new headquarters building the working conditions of the employees will considerably improve, which is expected to result in positive impacts on their motivation and performance.
The symbolic significance of the new building is proving to be equally important: for the EAC, its partner states and the employees, the construction of the organisation’s own, appropriate headquarters means recognition of its efforts to achieve integration. The political significance of the EAC is acknowledged through the project and also becomes visible to the outside world.
Identification with the new building is already consid- erable, and the project is accompanied by great political interest. German financial cooperation is thus making an important material and symbolic contribution to the EAC’s efforts to deepen regional cooperation in East Africa.
Contact
Construction of the EAC headquarters KfW Entwicklungsbank
Palmengartenstraße 5 – 9
60325 Frankfurt am Main | Germany Contact person Stephanie Rieger T +49 69 74 31-41 51 F +49 69 74 31-35 68 E [email protected]
I www.kfw-entwicklungsbank.de | www.eac.int