ERCA gets its headquarters inaugurated
New buildings that house the headquarters of the Ethiopian Revenues
and Customs Authority were inaugurated on the 18th May 2010. The new
headquarters has two stand-alone buildings each with seven floors
and is located in Megenagna district of Addis Ababa, just near the
Office of Bole sub city Administration. The buildings were completed
in early 2010 with a compound that has total area of 14 thousand sq.
meters and a lage car park paved with cobblestones. The complex has
24 open-plan offices which all together hold 850 employees.
The inauguration ceremony was attended by about 1000 people and important
dignitaries including His Excellency Girma W/Giorgis, President, Federal
Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, Mr. Arkebe Ekubay, State Minister
of the Ministry of Labour and Urban Development, Mr Melaku Fanta,
Director General of ERCA, Mr. Tewodros Adhanom, Minister for the Ministry
of Health, Mr. Teffera Derbew, Minister of the Ministry of Rural and
Agricultural Development.
The ceremony involved various activities which were related to the
inauguration of ERCA’s headquarters including speeches delivered
by President Girma and other dignitaries.
In his speech His Excellency President Girma stated that ERCA’s
headquarters offices and facilities were previously scattered across
Addis Ababa. This diffusion was due in part to ERCA’s lack of
spacious headquarters that can house all its facilities. This had
presented difficulties to customers and taxpayers for it unnecessarily
cost their valuable time and money especially when they had to travel
to the various offices in their effort to get the services they need.
In an effort to solve this problem, ERCA constructed and consolidated
its headquarters functions to this new complex. This has enabled ERCA
to offer its customers a one-stop service.
The Director General for ERCA said that two years of intensive change
implementation effort since July 2008, has transformed the tax administration
system. He added that the new headquarters is the result of one of
the many efforts ERCA has carried out to create suitable working environment
and to bring change in the tax administration system based on its
Business Process Reengineering (BPR) methodology. Besides, he emphatically
called on the staff of ERCA and the trading community to give more
support than ever for ERCA’s continuous effort to establish
a modern and effective tax system.
Mr. Arkebe also pointed out that the inauguration ceremony of other
new buildings that houses the headquarters of Ministry of Health,
and Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Development was taking place
the same day and noted that experts of Ministry of Labour and Urban
Development are the architect of these buildings.
The other notable event was the presentation of certificates. After
praising in glowing terms the contributions of various individuals
and organizations to the design and construction of the three headquarters,
Mr., Arkebe and other dignitaries awarded prizes and certificates
to them.
At the end of the ceremony, the dignitaries and other officials visited
the various rooms in the headquarters building in which specialized
tasks are carried out and service delivered by ERCA staff.
