Doha, Australian consortium secures Ethiopia stadium contract

(MENAFN) A Qatari-Australian team has won a contract to design a FIFA/Olympic-standard stadium and sports village in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Arabian Business reported. Doha-based Australian firm, DESIGNSPORT, and Australian LAVA will work on the project in cooperation with local Ethiopian architects JDAW, the consortium said in a statement. Work on the stadium project, which is shaped like a coffee bean, the main source of income in Ethiopia, is scheduled to begin in 2014. The development, which is the largest sporting infrastructure project in Ethiopia, will be constructed on a 60-hectare area. The stadium will include 60,000 spectator seats, an athletics track, aquatic centre, residential village, sports halls and arenas, retail and commercial zones as well as the headquarters of the Federal Sport Commission.