Addis land bids delayed five months over new software confusion

The Addis Ababa Land Management Bureau has not floated any land for tender during the last five months because of confusion over using new software. This is unusual for them because they previously floated a land bid every two months.
Over 60 pieces of land in ten sub cities were prepared for the 29th land bid auction. Employees say they are confused about how to use the new software developed by the Addis Ababa Integrated Land Information Center (AAILIC).
They were attempting to register bidders by entering data like the amount of money, land code, and cash payment order (CPO) on an automated template which then goes into the data of Addis Ababa Land Management Bureau.
In the previous 28 land bids people would buy tender documents from the Bureau and write the proposed height of the building, the price per square meter of the land they are trying to obtain, the land code, and payment amount on a document. Then employees would manually fill out this document.
Million Dejene, Information Communication Director at AAILIC says the new system has many new benefits.
Filling out forms manually was vulnerable to corruption because during the process people would come into contact with many employees.
Some of the Land Management Bureau staff say the new system will actually take more time.
One employee who requested anonymity said “up to 7,000 people participate in one land tender and having to call all bidders to fill out forms on computers in a few rooms will take too much time. The city administration should think about these logistical issues before applying the system.”
Recently the Addis Ababa Land Management Bureau cancelled the bids for 144 out of 236 pieces of land they offered during the 28th land lease auction because they said the land was incorporated into the new master plan needed to be used for side road construction.
“The system is simple a bidder comes to the central station and fills in only the CPO amount and the amount of money they are bidding. If they cannot type on the computer, they can come with someone or an employee of the bureau can help them. When they are done filling out the form they click the send button and a copy of the form is given to them only. After all of the data is collected from bidders the tender committee opens the secured data base to determine the winner for each land parcel bid, which is determined randomly by the computer. The computer also shows us statistical data which helps us conduct research. The new software also cancels bids of people who do not pay,” he explained.